GIFT  OF 


THE    GREATEST  OF  THESE 

A     BOOK      OF     FIVE     TO 
TWENTY  MINUTE 

ESSAYS 


BY 

ROBERT  O.  LAWTON 

Chair  of  English  in  Lander  College 


BOSTON 

SHERMAN,    FRENCH   £   COMPANY 
1913 


'    \    W     V 

L3 


COPYRIGHT,    1913 

SHERMAN,  FRENCH  6*  COMPANY 


TO 

THE  THREE  MOST  BEAUTIFUL  WOMEN 
OF  THE  SPIRIT  I  HAVE  EVER  KNOWN 

MY  WIFE— MY  MOTHER— MY  SISTER 

THIS  BOOK 
IS  AFFECTIONATELY  AND  GRATEFULLY  DEDICATED 


PREFACE 

The  readers  of  The  Christian 
Advocate  (the  general  organ  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South)  and  the  Southern  Chris 
tian  Advocate  (the  official  organ 
of  South  Carolina  Methodism) 
will  recognize  practically  the  en 
tire  contents  of  this  volume  as 
having  appeared  from  time  to 
time  in  these  excellent  religious 
periodicals.  This  volume  is  pub 
lished  with  the  high  hope  that  it 
may  be  helpful  to  my  old  and  my 
new  readers. 

R.  O.  LAWTON. 

Lander  College, 

Greenwood,  South  Carolina. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I  "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "   .      .      .  1 

II     LARGEST  SUCCESS 6 

III     WHAT  Is  RELIGION? 8 

IV     PAUL'S  SOUL  POWER 11 

V     SERVICE          16 

VI     OUR    CANARY    BIRD 18 

VII     HELL  AND   HEAVEN 26 

VIII  THE  REWARD  OF  PREACHING    ...  SO 

IX  THE   PREACHER'S   IDEAL     ....  35 

X  WIRELESS  TELEGRAPHY  AND  THE  LIFE 

OF    THE    SOUL 38 

XI  A   CHRISTMAS  THOUGHT     ....  44 

XII     THE  CELESTIAL  CITY 46 

XIII  THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  THE  SOUL   .      .  58 

XIV  EASTLAKE  PARK 67 

XV     THE  IDEALIST 69 

XVI     OUR  PRIVILEGE 75 

XVII     BOATS 76 

XVIII  JOHN  KEATS,  THE  APOSTLE  OF  BEAUTY  84 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

Love  is  life  and  life  is  love.  Where  there  is 
no  love  there  is  no  life.  The  loveless  life  is  the 
Godless  life.  Where  love  is,  God  is,  for  God 
is  love.  Love  is  the  reflection  of  God,  yea  it  is 
God  Himself.  Love  is  the  highest  and  holiest 
manifestation  of  God,  the  sublimest  expression  of 
man.  It  is  impossible  to  define  love  in  exact 
terms.  Love  speaks  a  language  of  its  own  — 
the  most  beautiful  language  that  the  world  has 
ever  known  —  but  it  is  a  wordless  language. 
And  love  refuses  to  be  cramped  into  a  few  man- 
made  words.  The  world  today  dreams  of  dol 
lars  and  yearns  quenchlessly  for  fame  and 
reaches  passionately  after  pleasure,  but  it  is 
love  above  all  else  for  which  the  world  uncon 
sciously  hungers.  Money  and  fame  and  pleas 
ure  may  pass  away  with  a  passing  day,  but  love 
lives  for  all  time  and  all  eternity.  Whether 
there  be  tongues,  they  shall  cease ;  whether  there 
be  prophecies,  they  shall  fail ;  whether  there  be 
knowledge,  it  shall  vanish  away ;  but  love,  se 
cure  in  her  existence,  abides  amid  the  war  of 
1 


2       ''THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

elements,  the  wreck  of  matter,  the  crash  of 
worlds,  and  the  flight  of  time.  Long  after  the 
form  is  bent  and  long  after  the  brow  is  wrinkled 
and  the  hair  is  gray,  love  will  cast  its  shaft  of 
light  and  spread  its  halo  of  beauty.  The  years 
come  and  go,  only  to  make  more  mellow  and 
render  more  beautiful  the  form  of  love. 

Love  is  no  respecter  of  persons.  It  dwells  in 
the  hearts  of  peasants  and  plebeians  as  well  as 
in  the  lives  of  kings  and  queens.  Like  the  rain 
bow,  it  arches  up  to  meet  the  God  of  love,  and 
also  reaches  its  arms  down  until  earth  is 
touched.  Love  is  a  world-old  aeolian  harp 
upon  which  the  Great  Musician  strikes  divine 
harmonies  that  float  melodiously  over  a  world 
of  great  hurts  and  infinite  pain.  Love  is  a 
celestially  fashioned  canvas  upon  which  the 
Master  Painter  of  the  universe  splashes  such 
Godlike  forms  and  hues  that  the  world  bows  its 
head  and  wonders  awestruck  and  entranced. 
The  songs  of  love  are  the  sweetest  songs  that 
have  ever  fallen  upon  the  ears  of  men.  A  little 
child  wrapping  its  arms  tenderly,  passionately, 
about  its  mother's  neck,  and  saying,  Mama,  I 
love  you!  counts  more  in  the  lives  of  tired  and 
toil  worn  men  and  women  than  angel  visits. 
Men  have  spent  their  lives  carving  exquisite 
forms  out  of  stone,  some  of  which  have  lived  for 
thousands  of  years,  but  love  can  carve  in  the 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "       3 

human  heart  an  angel  form,  which  will  live 
throughout  the  aeons  and  cycles  of  eternity. 
We  cannot  all  paint  great  pictures  and  carve 
enduring  sculptures,  and  write  beautiful  poems, 
but  all  of  us  —  if  we  will  —  can  so  love  that  we 
shall  produce  the  stuff  out  of  which  paintings 
and  sculptures  and  poetry  and  dreams  are  made. 
Love  suffereth  long  and  is  kind.  It  sweetens 
natures  and  purifies  hearts  and  renders  as  spot 
less  as  lilies  of  the  field  the  souls  of  sin  soiled 
men.  It  is  the  stateliest  lily  in  the  garden  of 
the  soul.  Love  is  greater  than  faith  because  it 
comprehends  and  even  creates  tfaith.  If  we 
have  love  enough,  we  will  keep  all  of  the  com 
mandments,  for  love  will  restrain  us  in  our 
wrong  doing  and  inspire  us  in  our  right  doing. 
If  we  love  God,  we  will  not  wound  Him;  if  we 
love  man  we  will  not  harm  him.  The  command 
ments  are  formed  upon  our  relationship  to  God 
and  man.  Hence  love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the 
law. 

In  the  last  analysis,  nothing  short  of  love 
will  cast  out  of  our  lives  selfishness  and  sin  and 
ignoble  traits,  for  God  is  love,  and  God  alone 
can  save  us  from  ourselves  and  our  sin.  Out 
of  the  heart  are  the  issues  of  life.  The  intellect 
must  be  the  handmaid  of  the  heart,  else  the 
house  is  built  upon  sand,  and  the  storms  of  life 
will  sweep  it  away.  It  is  great  to  be  powerful 


4       "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

in  intellect,  but  infinitely  greater  to  be  grand 
in  soul,  and  one  cannot  be  grand  in  soul  un 
less  one  loves  much.  When  the  heart  life  is 
cramped  and  warped  and  shrunken  and  shriv 
elled  by  education,  it  were  better  that  a  mill 
stone  be  tied  about  the  neck  of  education  and 
that  education  be  cast  into  the  depths  of  the 
sea,  for  what  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  shall 
gain  the  whole  world  of  knowledge  and  lose  his 
own  soul?  That  education  which  fails  to  en 
large  the  borders  of  the  heart  and  make  more 
measureless  the  reaches  of  the  soul,  is  essentially 
vicious,  for  it  is  merely  the  development  and 
multiplication  of  the  natural  man.  An  edu 
cated  devil  is  more  potential  for  evil  than  a  non- 
educated.  The  Church  which  fails  to  place  the 
supreme  emphasis  upon  love  has  lost  sight  of  the 
chief  attribute  of  Him  who  went  about  doing 
good.  The  home  which  is  built  on  anything 
less  than  love  may  endure  in  a  degree  of  peace 
and  harmony  as  long  as  the  sun  shines  and  the 
kindly  stars  look  down,  but  when  the  clouds 
cover  the  sun  and  the  night  is  dark,  the  founda 
tions  of  the  home  will  be  shaken  and  the  build 
ing  will  fall. 

The  love-life  is  the  great  life.  Mary  Mag 
dalene  rose  from  an  outcast  on  the  streets, 
houseless  by  night,  to  such  heights  of  spiritual 
excellence  that  the  garments  of  her  soul  glis- 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "       5 

tened  as  the  morning  and  the  form  of  her  heart 
was  as  an  angel's  form  —  because  she  loved 
much.  St.  John  the  Divine  catching  apoca 
lyptic  visions  of  the  golden  glories  of  the  new 
Jerusalem  is  not  so  fascinating  a  figure  as  St. 
John  the  lover  of  his  Lord.  Paul  the  great 
caught  up  into  the  seventh  heaven  and  behold 
ing  celestial  realities  too  excellent  for  human 
speech  is  not  so  engaging  a  personality  as  St. 
Paul  the  writer  of  the  13th  chapter  of  1st  Cor. 
In  the  final  round  up  after  life's  fitful  fever  is 
over,  I  am,  thinking  that  it  will  not  be  a  ques 
tion  of  dollars  or  fame  or  high  society  or 
prestige  or  intellectuality  or  big  city  churches 
or  any  other  creature,  but  the  simple  question 
of  who  loved  much,  for  is  not  love  life  and  is 
not  love  the  fulfilling  of  the  law,  and  is  not  love 
greater  than  all  else,  and  is  not  God  love?  If 
perchance  we  have  so  loved  and  served  and 
dreamed  of  good  here  that  at  the  twilight  hour 
a  few  into  whose  lives  our  love  has  entered  as 
a  beam  of  light  may  say,  Here  dies  one  who 
loved  much,  the  world's  greatest  Lover  has 
taught  us  to  believe  that  in  the  house  not  made 
with  hands,  our  souls  shall  awake  and  be  satis 
fied.  The  greatest  of  these  is  love. 


II 

LARGEST  SUCCESS 

To  receive  all  truth  with  intellectual  hospi 
tality  ;  to  cling  ever  to  the  beautiful  and  the  true ; 
to  entertain  as  honored  guests  a  few  tall  dreams 
from  life's  morning  hours  until  eventide ;  to  be 
known  as  one  possessing  sweetness  of  nature, 
purity  of  heart,  and  spotlessness  of  soul;  to 
translate  the  great  hurts  and  disappointments 
of  life  into  terms  of  sympathy  and  tenderness ; 
to  tread  softly  through  the  green  pastures  of 
love  and  by  the  still  waters  of  faith ;  to  love  the 
Master  so  much  that  he  will  become  the  ruling 
passion  of  our  lives,  the  chief  Guest  in  the  pal 
ace  of  our  souls ;  to  lift  our  fallen  comrades  in 
gentle  sympathy  and  in  the  spirit  of  a  brother; 
to  make  life  sweeter  and  more  worth  while  for 
the  weak,  the  tired,  and  those  who  have  fallen 
by  the  way;  to  make  more  music  on  earth  by 
touching  the  latent,  hushed  chords  in  the  hearts 
of  at  least  a  few  men  and  women  who  have 
grown  bitter  and  callous  in  the  storm  and  the 
stress  of  life ;  to  trust  our  Father  as  little  chil 
dren  and  follow  the  Christ  all  the  way,  even 
into  the  shadows  of  life ;  to  press  forward  each 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "       7 

day  with  high  heart  and  undaunted  spirit  on 
and  on  and  on  into  the  measureless  regions  of 
larger  life  and  into  the  shadowless  realm  of  the 
soul ;  to  refuse  steadily  to  grow  bitter,  to  whine, 
or  to  cry  aloud  when  the  Great  Teacher  leads 
us  through  the  school  of  suffering,  knowing 
that  the  languages  we  are  learning  will  be  the 
languages  we  shall  speak  as  celestial  citizens ; 
to  feel  our  hearts  stirred  and  fired  and  our  souls 
filled  and  thrilled  by  every  messenger  bearing 
greetings  and  tidings  from  the  Divine  Source 
of  all  good;  to  realize  that  he  who  fails  to 
provide  for  his  family  should  be  included  in 
the  same  category  with  infidels  (nevertheless, 
making  a  life  is  greater  than  making  a  living)  ; 
to  run  the  race  of  life  with  infinite  patience, 
leaning  upon  God  for  results ;  to  walk  with 
our  feet  on  the  ground  and  our  heads  among 
the  stars ;  to  strain  every  nerve  of  heart  and 
soul  to  see  the  invisible,  to  hear  the  inaudible 
and  to  feel  the  intangible,  knowing  that  the 
real  forces  of  life  are  the  majestic  entities  that 
lie  back  of  the  visible,  the  audible,  and  the 
tangible;  to  thrill  with  divine  ecstasy  over  the 
messages  of  the  great  masters  in  music,  art,  and 
literature ;  and,  finally,  to  fashion  our  lives  and 
our  work  after  the  similitude  of  the  master  Life 
and  the  master  Artist  —  this  is  the  largest  suc 
cess. 


Ill 

WHAT  IS  RELIGION? 

To  believe  vitally  in  self  and  man  and  God; 
to  see  something  good  and  true  and  beautiful 
in  God's  manifold  creations ;  to  think  kindly 
and  charitably  of  those  who  sin  and  fall;  to  re 
joice  with  them  that  do  rejoice,  and  weep  with 
them  that  weep ;  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  as 
a  personal  Saviour ;  to  think  often  of  him  and 
accord  him  a  full  measure  of  spiritual  hospi 
tality  ;  to  greet  the  world  of  tired  men  and  toil 
ing  women  with  a  smile,  which  is  the  child  of 
love ;  to  refuse  to  whine  or  grow  bitter  or  en 
courage  cynicism  and  doubt  because  God  is  in 
his  heaven  and  on  his  earth;  to  extend  to  men 
of  other  creeds  and  other  Churches  the  right 
hand  of  fellowship  in  the  name  of  him  who  con 
demns  narrowness  and  refuses  to  tolerate  big 
otry;  to  yearn  after  and  pray  for  righteous 
ness  in  order  that  we  may  clothe  the  spiritually 
naked  with  this  beautiful  garment;  to  regard 
our  greatest  hurts  and  deepest  sorrows  in  the 
light  of  blessed  schools  through  which  God 
leads  us  to  teach  us  the  language  of  sympathy 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "       9 

and  love;  to  believe  in  our  fellow  men  so 
strongly  that  they  will  begin  to  believe  in  them 
selves  and  in  God;  to  see  God  in  the  blue  sky, 
in  the  shining  stars,  in  the  forms  and  hues  of 
mountains,  in  the  plenteous  grace  of  ocean  tides, 
and  in  the  life  of  man;  to  so  love  the  Master 
that  he  shall  become  the  ruling  passion  in  our 
lives,  the  chief  Guest  in  the  palace  of  our  hearts  ; 
to  place  the  supreme  emphasis  upon  soul  power 
and  not  upon  mentality,  for  it  is  better  to  be 
grand  in  soul  than  powerful  in  intellect;  to  be 
lieve  that  he  who  feeds  the  ravens  and  watches 
the  sparrow  when  it  falls  will  likewise  give  his 
angels  charge  concerning  us  and  keep  us  be 
neath  the  shadow  of  his  wing ;  to  use  freely  and 
fully  all  outward  means  of  grace  and  para 
phernalia  of  creeds,  but  value  more  a  beautiful 
fellowship  with  God  and  a  splendid  service 
rendered  to  man  than  Churchism  and  ecclesi- 
asticism;  to  refuse  steadfastly  to  live  alone  and 
out  of  sympathy  and  contact  with  the  world, 
but  rather  dream  great  dreams  of  the  brother 
hood  of  all  men  and  so  project  ourselves  into 
other  lives  that  they  will  be  enriched  by  our 
presence;  to  strive  mightily  to  be  what  God 
would  have  us  be,  to  do  what  God  would  have 
us  do,  and  to  go  where  God  would  have  us  go ; 
to  forget  the  things  which  are  behind,  and, 
reaching  after  the  things  which  are  before? 


10      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

press  forward  day  after  day  for  the  prize  of 
the  race  and  the  reward  of  it  all;  to  run  with 
patience  the  race  that  is  set  before  us,  remem 
bering  the  celestial  witnesses,  and  looking  unto 
our  Lord,  in  whose  strength  we  run  and  by 
whose  grace  we  live  and  move  and  have  our 
being;  to  look  for  the  vision  beatific  when  we 
must  stand  on  our  isles  of  Patmos  and  refuse 
to  dwell  upon  our  isolation  and  exile  and  un 
desirable  lot  in  life ;  to  throw  ourselves  at  even 
tide  on  the  bosom  of  our  Father  and  believe  as 
a  little  child  that  he  will  give  us  a  resting  place 
in  our  Father's  house  —  this  is  religion. 


IV 
PAUL'S  SOUL  POWER 

Paul's  soul  power  is  his  greatest  asset.  In 
this  he  easily  outranks  all  other  men  who  have 
ever  lived  except,  of  course,  the  Man  of  Galilee. 
By  soul  power  I  mean  a  certain  spiritual  hospi 
tality,  a  certain  opening  of  the  upper  windows 
of  the  soul  to  divine  impressions,  a  genius  for 
godliness,  a  passionate  and  quenchless  thirst 
after  righteousness,  a  full-orbed  surrender  of  all 
talents,  possessions,  and  possibilities  to  God,  a 
splendid  abandon  of  spirit  resulting  in  a  quick 
ening  of  the  higher  nature,  and  a  more  radiant 
immediate  spiritual  environment.  This  fine 
flavor  of  soul  casts  a  halo  about  the  form  of  a 
man  and  pervades  the  whole  realm  in  which  he 
operates.  We  might  call  soul  power  the  highest 
expression  of  religious  life,  its  choicest,  rarest, 
and  richest  fruits.  We  might  call  it  corporate 
consciousness,  divinely  inspired  altruism,  Christ- 
likeness. 

We  may  illustrate  it  best  in  the  life  of  Paul, 
the  great  —  great  not  in  any  single  sense  that 
the  world  calls  great,  but  great  in  that  he  so 
11 


12      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

opened  himself  to  God,  so  emptied  himself  for 
God  that  he  walked  the  earth  with  more  of  God 
in  him  than  any  other  man  since  time  began. 
And  is  not  this  true  greatness?  God  is  all- 
great,  all-good,  all-powerful.  Our  talents,  our 
possessions,  our  merit  are  from  God.  As  we 
partake  of  the  nature  of  God,  we  become  of 
value  in  life.  He  who  is  imbued  with  more  of 
God's  spirit  and  attributes  than  another  be 
comes  logically  greater  than  the  other.  Faith, 
love,  hope,  gentleness,  goodness,  purity,  virtue, 
knowledge,  kindness,  long-suffering,  sympathy, 
godlikeness  —  these  are  the  things  that  make 
men  truly  great.  And  it  is  not,  as  many  be 
lieve,  money,  fame,  beauty,  blood,  prestige, 
worldly  power,  high  society. 

In  proportion  as  men  tap  the  reservoir  of 
God's  power  they  become  powerful.  In  pro 
portion  as  men  connect  themselves  with  the  re 
sources  of  the  unseen,  they  become  resourceful. 
In  proportion  as  men  develop  within  themselves, 
by  divine  aid,  the  attributes  of  God,  they  be 
come  like  him.  And  as  they  become  more  and 
more  like  him  they  become  greater  and  yet  more 
great.  And  this  is  soul  power.  Paul  tran 
scended  the  utmost  bounds  of  human  achieve 
ment  along  this  particular  line.  Paul's  faith 
was  not  his,  but  "  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God." 
Paul's  love  was  not  his,  but  the  love  of  Christ, 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      13 

which  constrained  him.  Paul's  goodness  was 
not  his,  but  the  goodness  of  his  Lord,  which 
wrapped  itself  as  a  rare  and  beautiful  garment 
about  his  form.  Paul's  life  was  the  street  car; 
God  was  the  power  house.  Paul's  life  was 
Niagara;  God  was  the  Great  Lakes  back  of 
Niagara.  He  was  filled  with  all  of  the  fullness 
of  God.  He  was  stirred  by  the  tides  of  God's 
love.  He  was  fired  with  the  passions  of  God. 
He  was  thrilled  with  the  thoughts  of  God.  For 
him  to  live  was  Christ.  Into  his  life  had  swept 
the  currents  of  the  life  of  God.  Paul  was  a 
new  man ;  Saul  of  Tarsus  was  a  dead  man  — 
there  was  no  such  man  as  Saul  of  Tarsus. 
With  lavish  prodigality  and  a  certain  divine 
abandon  of  self-surrender,  he  cast  away  every 
possible  possession  of  Saul  of  Tarsus  and  threw 
himself  empty-handed  and  empty-souled  upon 
God  and  his  mercy.  As  usual,  God  threw  him 
self  into  Saul's  life,  and  the  result  was  Paul, 
the  greatest  man  God  ever  made  —  greatest 
because  of  his  ability  to  empty  himself  and  be 
entirely  filled  with  God,  because  of  his  passion 
for  righteousness  and  thirst  for  holiness.  This 
is  soul  power.  Some  have  much,  and  some  have 
little;  Paul  had  most. 

We  try  pitifully  to  be  great  of  our  own 
strength;  we  might  as  well  whistle.  We  boast 
of  our  little  virtues ;  they  are  dross  in  the  sight 


14      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

of  God.  In  the  last  analysis  there  is  none  good 
but  God,  and  logically  it  is  only  as  God  is  in 
us  that  we  approach  goodness.  Paul  was  the 
ambassador  of  God.  Sometimes  he  was  in 
chains,  sometimes  in  prison ;  but  he  carried  on 
his  person  and  in  his  soul  not  only  the  marks 
of  his  Lord,  but  the  credentials  of  heaven. 
God  spoke  through  Paul.  God  worked  through 
Paul.  God  lived  in  Paul.  Paul's  spirit  was 
the  candle  of  the  Lord  —  and  how  far  that 
candle  threw  its  beams !  Paul  was  a  flame  of 
fire,  and  about  this  fire  was  a  celestial  glow. 
Men  saw  God  in  Paul's  face,  for  his  face  was 
as  radiant  as  the  morning  with  the  light  of  God 
upon  it.  Men  knew  that  Paul  had  been  with 
Jesus,  for  the  marks  of  his  Lord  were  upon 
him.  Paul  did  not  write  the  thirteenth  chapter 
of  First  Corinthians ;  God  wrote  that  marvelous 
thing  of  beauty,  that  priceless  possession  of  the 
human  race,  epic  in  its  sweep,  lyric  in  concep 
tion,  idyllic  in  expression,  and  gorgeous  in  its 
wealth  of  wondrously  blended  words. 

This  thing  of  soul  power  is  the  greatest  thing 
in  life,  because  it  comprehends  all  that  is  best, 
and,  again,  because  it  has  its  orgin  in  the  unseen 
realms  of  life.  It  is  the  enduring  quality  of 
art,  the  living  element  in  literature,  the  eternal 
note  in  music,  the  immortal  characteristic  of 
man.  Poets  may  write  exquisite  poetry,  but 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      15 

without  soul  power  it  will  not  live  for  all  time. 
Painters  may  paint  trans cendently  beautiful 
pictures,  but  without  soul  power  they  will  not 
grip  the  universal  heart  and  hold  it.  Musi 
cians  may  build  beautiful  the  palace  of  music, 
but  without  soul  power  it  will  crumble  and  fall. 
Men  may  carve  out  of  their  lives  angel  forms, 
but  without  soul  power  they  will  not  rise  as 
high  as  the  stars.  This  is  the  dominant  note, 
the  great  message  of  Paul's  life.  Over  the  gulf 
of  the  vanished  centuries  comes  this  vast  message 
to  our  age,  to  us  in  these  modern  days  who  are 
too  full  of  life's  passing  treasures  to  let  God  into 
our  lives,  too  rich  in  the  world's  goods  to  clothe 
ourselves  in  the  livery  of  heaven,  too  charmed 
with  the  glare  and  the  glitter  of  materialism 
and  artificiality  to  accord  to  God  the  proper 
degree  of  spiritual  hospitality.  Is  not  the  mes 
sage  of  Paul  the  message  we  need? 


SERVICE 

To  refrain  from  innocent  pleasures  because 
perchance  they  may  cause  a  weaker  one  to 
stumble  and  fall ;  to  rej  oice  with  them  that  do 
rejoice  and  weep  with  them  that  weep;  to  enter 
lives  more  unfortunate  than  ours  like  a  shaft 
of  light;  to  catch  the  outlines  of  the  vision 
splendid  and  impart  it  to  those  who  are  under 
the  binding  and  blinding  and  grinding  influ 
ences  of  sin;  to  dream  a  few  high  dreams  and 
project  into  practical  fashion  the  substance  of 
such  dreams ;  to  reach  arms  of  sympathy  and 
love  out  into  the  mists  and  fogs  of  life  and  lift 
the  fallen  unto  the  heights  where  the  sky  is 
clear;  to  lie  down  in  the  quiet  of  the  night  and 
yearn  passionately  and  quenchlessly  for  the 
souls  of  our  brother  men  at  home  and  across  the 
wide  seas ;  to  enlarge  the  borders  of  our  hearts 
and  widen  the  confines  of  our  souls  by  according 
to  all  men  the  privilege  of  fellowship  and  com 
munion  ;  to  lead  in  childlike  faith  at  least  a  few 
of  the  world's  pariahs  unto  the  great  altar 

stairs  of  life  which  slope  through  darkness  up 
16 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      17 

to  God;  to  keep  our  natures  sweet,  our  hearts 
pure,  and  our  souls  unspotted  from  the  world 
in  order  that  those  who  touch  our  lives  may  go 
away  refreshed  in  spirit  and  whitened  in  soul; 
to  make  some  conscious  sacrifices  and  experience 
some  great  hurts  because,  forsooth,  we  would 
identify  ourselves  with  all  of  the  segments  in 
the  vast  circle  of  humanity ;  to  reach  up  through 
the  night  and  beyond  the  stars  for  God's  great, 
strong  hand  and  to  help  others  feel  the  touch 
of  that  hand  and  its  uplifting  power;  to  cast 
aside,  as  a  useless  but  treasured  garment,  our 
little  fads  and  hobbies  and  idiosyncrasies  that 
men  in  need  may  not  shun  us  and  thereby  lose 
contact  with  our  better  selves ;  to  think  less  of 
our  own  rights  and  more  of  the  needs  of  our 
brother  men ;  to  follow  the  Master  all  the  way, 
even  unto  the  twilight  hour,  that  he  may  lead 
us  and  all  who  walk  with  us  the  dim-lit  paths 
of  life  into  the  city  not  made  with  hands  —  this 
is  service. 


VI 
OUR  CANARY  BIRD 

We  have  a  little  canary  which,  I  suppose,  is 
no  more  attractive  and  winsome  than  your 
canary,  but  it  is  more  so  to  us.  I  have  noticed 
several  things  about  our  bird,  and  it  is  barely 
possible  that  you  have  noticed  the  same  things 
about  your  bird.  I  want  to  tell  you  about  these 
things  and  what  lessons  I  have  gotten  from 
them,  for  you  know  we  may  learn  lessons  from 
the  most  insignificant  creation  of  God,  pro 
vided  we  keep  our  eyes  and  ears  open  and  do  a 
little  honest  thinking. 

Our  bird  is  pretty  and  attractive  and  win 
some.  This  is  not  simply  because  it  is  our 
bird.  Others  have  noted  the  same  character 
istics  in  this  particular  bird.  He  has  a  per 
sonality  and  he  has  individuality.  He  is  not  a 
lazy  bird.  He  sings  too  much  to  be  lazy  and 
only  a  smart  bird  would  take  as  much  exercise 
as  he  takes.  Then  he  is  very  appreciative.  He 
shows  his  appreciation  of  any  rare  bit  of  food 
we  secure  for  him  by  eating  it  as  soon  as  we 
put  it  in  his  cage  —  and  enjoying  it.  Then 
18 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      19 

again,  this  little  bird  is  serviceable.  With  his 
good  looks,  his  winning  ways,  and  his  rare 
powers  of  song  he  renders  a  real  service  in  his 
little  realm.  And  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he 
spends  his  days  in  a  cage  and  is  denied  the 
liberty  and  the  freedom  of  the  open  air,  he 
seems  perfectly  content  with  his  lot  in  life.  He 
begins  the  day  with  a  song  and  at  twilight  he 
ends  the  day  with  a  song,  and  this  whether  the 
day  is  bright  or  whether  the  day  is  dark. 
When  night  comes  our  little  bird  closes  his  eyes 
and  sleeps  peacefully  until  morning,  unafraid 
of  the  darkness  of  night. 

It  seems  to  me  that  we  might  better  our  lives 
and  render  others  happier  and  brighter  by  tak 
ing  thought  of  these  things,  some  of  them  any 
way.  Of  course,  all  of  us  cannot  be  pretty  and 
attractive  and  winsome  and  possess  personality 
and  individuality.  These  things  are  generally 
given  to  us,  not  acquired  or  developed.  But  all 
of  us  may  be  smart  and  ambitious.  By  smart 
ness  I  do  not  mean  intellectuality,  but  rather 
responsiveness  to  labor,  a  disposition  to  work,  a 
reasonable  amount  of  fingertipness.  There  is 
something  wrong,  radically  wrong,  with  the  man 
who  despises  work  and  longs  for  permanent  re 
tirement.  Energy  is  force.  Laziness  is  a 
curse.  Lethargy  may  mean  stagnation.  Thrift 
is  an  essential  in  success.  Work  is  the  measure 


20      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

of  the  man.  Genius  is  sometimes  an  infinite 
capacity  for  hard  work.  A  hopelessly  lazy 
person  should  be  examined  for  hook  worms. 
The  world  has  no  place  for  a  drone,  and  I  am 
thinking  that  a  drone  would  experience  diffi 
culty  in  finding  a  suitable  location  in  heaven. 
It  is  just  a  little  funny  to  hear  the  man  who 
toils  with  his  hands  berate  the  man  who  toils 
with  his  head  (sitting  down,  generally)  for 
being  so  lazy,  and  equally  funny  to  hear  the 
man  who  toils  with  his  head  disparage  the  work 
of  the  man  who  toils  with  his  hands.  They  are 
both  honorable  and  blessed  in  the  sight  of  God, 
and  a  joy  may  be  found  in  any  sort  of  toil  if 
we  regard  our  work  not  in  the  light  of  a  curse 
and  a  misfortune  but  rather  as  a  privilege  and 
a  panacea.  As  I  have  watched  our  little 
canary's  energy  and  vitality  and  thrift,  I  have 
thought  that  God  does  not  want  any  of  His 
manifold  creations  to  rust  unburnished,  to  stag 
nate  in  idleness,  to  bury  the  talents  He  has  so 
bountifully  bestowed. 

And  all  of  us  may  be  appreciative.  In 
gratitude  begets  pain.  Appreciation  is  a  god 
like  quality.  Thanksgiving  is  a  Christian 
grace.  The  thankless  child  makes  an  unhappy 
parent.  Service  is  sweetened  when  apprecia 
tion  is  expressed.  When  we  take  the  goodness 
and  kindness  of  our  friend  or  loved  one  for 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      21 

granted,  as  a  mere  matter  of  course,  the 
zest  and  relish  of  the  kindness  are  largely  lost. 
The  child  who  accepts  his  Christmas  presents, 
whether  many  or  few,  valuable  or  simple,  in  a 
burnt  out,  careless,  indifferent,  and  unappre- 
ciative  way  (as  you  and  I  have  seen  more  than 
once)  presents  himself  as  a  puerile  abnormality, 
a  youthful  monstrosity,  or  a  fit  subject  for 
chastisement.  The  most  attractive  quality 
about  a  dog  is  appreciation.  Too  often  we  ac 
cept  God's  goodness  and  kindness  and  con 
sideration  without  even  thanking  Him.  We  do 
not  thank  Him  enough  in  our  prayers  —  we 
are  too  busy  asking  Him  for  more  gifts  for 
which  we  also  fail  to  render  thanks  to  the  Giver 
of  all  good  things.  As  I  have  watched  the  ex 
pressed  appreciation  of  our  little  bird,  I  have 
thought  that  God  meant  all  of  His  creations  to 
be  grateful  for  the  good  things  of  life  and  to 
express  in  some  way  this  spirit  of  gratitude. 

All  of  us  may  render  some  service  meet  for 
the  Master's  use.  We  may  not  be  able  to  carve 
a  beautiful  sculpture  or  to  write  a  great  poem, 
or  paint  a  picture  that  will  live  for  all  time,  or 
lead  an  army  into  victory;  but  all  of  us  can 
touch  at  least  a  few  hearts  to  finer  issues  and 
move  a  few  souls  to  loftier  purposes.  We  may 
not  be  able  to  sing  in  such  fashion  that  men 
will  listen  with  bowed  heads,  or  preach  with  such 


22      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

power  that  multitudes  will  listen  spellbound  to 
the  eloquent  words  that  fall  from  our  lips,  or 
teach  with  such  wisdom  and  power  as  did  Soc 
rates  ;  but  we  can  so  live  and  so  love  and  so 
serve  in  our  own  way  and  with  our  limited 
power  that  at  least  a  few  of  the  sons  and  daugh 
ters  of  men  will  sing  and  preach  and  teach  in 
finer  fashion  because  we  swept  into  their  lives 
like  the  sound  of  music  by  night.  After  all, 
the  tired  men  and  toiling  women  and  gentle 
children  of  the  world  do  not  need  so  much  of 
genius  and  greatness,  but  rather  more  light, 
more  love,  more  service  —  the  things  we  can 
give  them.  We  may  render  a  high  service  by 
living  a  beautiful  life  and  like  a  silent  shaft 
of  light  enter  other  lives.  We  may  enrich 
other  lives  by  making  out  of  our  own  life  a 
poem,  the  music  of  which  shall  enter  them  like 
music  from  some  new-found  aeolian  harp.  We 
may  serve  beautifully  by  praying  earnestly  and 
faithfully  for  those  we  call  friend  —  and  others. 
We  may  lift  some  lives  by  simply  believing  in 
them.  That  is  all  some  people  need  in  this 
world  —  somebody  to  believe  in  them  in  order 
that  they  may  believe  in  themselves  and  in  God. 
And  then  we  may  serve  others  by  simply  being 
bright  and  cheerful  and  optimistic,  by  bringing 
into  their  lives  gladness  and  joy  and  the  radiant 
things  of  life  —  even  as  the  little  canary  (which 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      23 

is  causing  all  this  writing)  sings  its  simple,  glad 
songs  on  dark  days  as  well  as  on  bright  days 
and  thereby  renders  its  service  and  fulfills  God's 
dream  back  of  its  life. 

We  said  this  little  bird  is  content  with  its 
lot  in  life,  and  I  am  thinking  that  we  may  learn 
a  valuable  lesson  at  this  point.  We  so  often 
fum,e  and  fret  and  chafe  under  our  burden  — 
and  sometimes  our  burdens  are  imaginary  bur 
dens,  bridges  crossed  too  soon,  abnormal  sensi 
tiveness,  unmanly  suspicious,  etc.  It  is  hard 
to  please  some  of  us.  We  are  never  content  with 
our  lot  in  life.  We  would  change  it.  Far  off 
cattle  have  long  horns.  We  are  jealous  of  our 
more  fortunate  fellows.  We  wonder  why  others 
have  been  given  so  much  more  than  has  been 
given  us,  why  they  are  so  much  happier.  We 
so  often  forget  that  the  issues  of  life  are  from 
within.  We  fail  to  realize  that  our  lot,  our 
life,  our  destiny  are  largely  wrought  out  by 
our  own  hands.  And  we  miss  the  prize  and 
the  solution  of  life  by  failing  to  let  God  into 
partnership  with  us,  which  insures  contentment, 
and  gain,  and  peace,  and  victory.  How  splen 
did  to  be  like : 

"  The  Catholic  man  who  hath  mightily  won 
God  out  of  knowledge  and  good  out  of  infinite  pain 
And   sight   out  of   blindness   and  purity  out  of  a 
stain.*' 


24      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

It  seems  to  me  that  it  is  a  reflection  upon  our 
Father  in  heaven  for  His  children  to  complain 
continually  about  their  lot  in  life. 

We  said  this  little  bird  wakes  with  a  song 
and  closes  the  day  with  another.  How  many  of 
us,  think  you,  wake  with  a  song  and  a  lilt  in 
our  hearts?  It  is  so  easy  to  wake  in  a  bad 
humor  —  and  again  it  is  almost  as  easy  to 
form  the  habit  of  beginning  the  day  in  good 
cheer  and  in  gladness.  It  is  one  of  the  fine 
arts,  which  is  worth  cultivating  both  for  our 
selves  and  for  those  we  call  friend.  Our  bird 
sings  a  soft,  rich,  mellow  song  at  twilight.  It 
is  his  vesper  song.  The  loud,  gay,  glad  notes 
of  the  day  are  hushed  into  a  plaintive,  almost 
sad  sweetness,  and  this  is  the  best  of  all  the 
songs  he  sings.  And  should  not  this  be  so  with 
us?  Our  lives  should  pass  out  at  eventide  as 
a  rich,  soft,  sweet  song,  after  the  heat  and  the 
burden  and  the  midday  glare  of  life's  day.  Our 
vesper  songs  should  be  our  sweetest  songs.  As 
the  tendrils  that  bind  us  to  this  life  are  weak 
ened,  the  tendrils  that  bind  us  to  the  other  life 
should  be  proportionately  strengthened.  Old 
age  should  be  rich,  and  full,  and  beautiful,  and 
mellow. 

"  Grow   old   along  with   me ! 
The  best  is  yet  to  be." 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      25 

The  world  does  not  think  straight  on  the  old 
age  question.  Our  old  men  should  be  our  seers ; 
we  shelve  them  and  supplant  then  with  young 
men  not  half  so  wise,  so  worthy,  so  rich  in 
eternal  values. 

From  the  western  porch  of  life  one  looks  at 
the  golden  glories  of  the  sunken  sun.  From 
the  western  porch  of  life  one  catches  fair 
gleams  of  the  radiant  light  of  the  new  Jeru 
salem.  From  the  western  porch  of  life  one 
steps  into  the  vestibule  leading  to  the  house  not 
made  with  hands.  From  the  western  porch  of 
life  one  reaches  trembling  hands  and  grasps  the 
skirts  of  God.  Let  us  listen  with  bowed  head 
and  chastened  reverence  and  somewhat  of  child 
like  wonder  to  the  even  songs  and  sunset  mes 
sages  of  those  who  stand  upon  the  western  porch 
of  life  —  because  their  songs  are  sweeter,  their 
messages  are  fraught  with  a  richer  meaning, 
and  about  their  bowed  and  spent  forms  the  gar 
ment  of  the  Lord  is  wrapped,  the  halo  of  the 
Lord  is  gathered. 


VII 
HELL  AND  HEAVEN 

To  live  from  day  to  day  in  uncongenial  sur 
roundings  and  adverse  circumstances ;  to  yearn 
passionately  for  life's  vast  unattainable ;  to  see 
our  tallest  dreams  come  back  to  us,  flotsam  and 
jetsam ;  to  be  misunderstood  and  reviled  when 
we  lavish  our  soul  treasures  upon  the  unappre- 
ciative  and  the  faultfinding;  to  look  eagerly 
across  the  gray  mists  of  life  into  the  shining 
stars  for  something  that  will  satisfy  the  hunger 
and  quench  the  thirst  of  our  souls,  and  find  it 
not;  to  feel  the  tidal  waves  of  action  and  the 
quenchless  passion  of  service  striving  passion 
ately  within  a  soul  whose  dwelling  place  is  a 
fragile  body  and  a  complex  bundle  of  nerves; 
to  feel  the  clutch  of  Satan  in  a  besetting  sin 
and  contemplate  with  infinite  remorse  his  weird, 
wild-eyed,  grim,*  gruesome,  fiendish  triumph; 
to  see  the  cords  of  habit  bind  tighter  and 
tighter  the  freedom  of  our  souls  and  cry  aloud 
for  help,  nor  find  it  anywhere ;  to  follow  the  great 
Captain  into  the  dark,  and,  losing,  find  only 
black  night  and  piteous  unrest  of  soul;  to  lie 
26 


u  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      27 

down  at  night  with  a  guilty  conscience  and  a 
soul  that  has  been  soiled  in  the  dust  of  the 
world;  to  misspend  a  life  pregnant  with  vast 
possibilities  and  rich  in  eternal  values ;  to  sur 
render  our  inner  life,  our  holy  of  holies,  to  the 
vultures  of  selfishness,  hate,  anger,  jealousy, 
malice,  and  murderous  passions ;  to  live  through 
out  the  cycles  and  asons  of  eternity  in  sight  of 
the  great  white  throne  and  the  face  of  Christ, 
with  infinite  yearnings  unanswered  and  a  re 
morse  of  soul  that  surpasses  physical  torture; 
to  reach  with  eager,  outstretched  hands  after 
the  unattainable  on  the  celestial  side  of  the  gulf 
impassable;  to  cry  as  infants  in  the  night,  with 
no  language  but  a  cry,  for  surcease  from  pain, 
and  hear  only  the  gruesome,  grotesque,  hollow, 
phantasmagorical  echoes  and  reverberations  of 
the  home  of  the  lost;  to  remember  with  terrific 
force  every  evil  act  and  recall  with  fearful  vivid 
ness  every  lost  opportunity ;  to  be  consumed  and 
reconsumed  and  tortured  and  torn  by  passions 
and  evil  traits,  intensified  and  magnified  a  thou 
sandfold  by  the  genius  and  environment  of  the 
place  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels ;  and 
to  yearn  piteously  and  quenchlessly  for  the 
touch  of  a  hand  and  the  sound  of  voices  that 
were  heard  long  since  and  lost  forever  —  this 
is  hell. 

To  live  from  day  to  day  with  those  whom  we 


28      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

love  and  who  love  us  in  turn,  bound  together  by 
common  cords,  kindredness  of  spirit,  and  goodly 
fellowship;  to  enjoy  peace  of  mind,  sweetness 
of  nature,  purity  of  heart,  and  spotlessness  of 
soul ;  to  be  guided  by  our  affections  rather  than 
by  our  passions ;  to  dream  a  few  great  dreams, 
and,  even  though  all  do  not  come  true,  to  believe 
with  certainty  that  all  things  work  together  for 
good  to  us  when  our  hearts  are  fixed  on  God ;  to 
wrap  the  arms  of  our  hearts  passionately  about 
the  shivering,  cheerless,  comfortless  forms  of 
our  more  unfortunate  brother  men  and  feel  the 
reflex  thrill  and  quiver  of  Christlike  service; 
to  see  the  form  of  God  in  the  shining  of  the 
stars,  in  the  arch  of  the  rainbow,  in  the  vastness 
of  the  moving  tides,  and  in  the  common  clod ;  to 
hear  the  voice  of  God  in  the  song  of  birds,  in 
the  running  of  brooks,  in  the  "  Now  I  lay  me  " 
of  a  little  child,  and  in  the  discords  of  sinful 
men ;  to  feel  the  presence  of  God  in  the  setting 
sun  and  the  round  ocean  and  the  blue  sky  and 
the  heart  of  man ;  to  count  that  the  sweetest 
music  that  was  ever  heard  on  sea  or  land,  whose 
theme  is  the  cross  of  Christ  and  his  matchless 
gospel ;  to  know  Christ  in  the  power  of  his  resur 
rection  and  the  fellowship  of  his  sufferings,  and 
to  accord  to  him,  the  treasures  of  our  souls ;  to 
count  ourselves  the  guests  of  God,  whether  we 
are  in  the  heart  of  a  great  city  or  in  the  soli- 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      29 

tude  of  a  desert  or  in  the  house  not  made  with 
hands;  to  grow  in  grace  with  the  passage  of 
the  days  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord, 
approaching  more  and  more  unto  the  stature 
of  perfect  men  and  perfect  women  in  Christ ;  to 
believe  as  a  little  child  God's  goodness  and  mercy 
and  to  trust  him  all  the  way,  even  into  the 
shadows  of  life;  to  lie  down  to  pleasant  dreams 
at  eventide  and  awake  in  our  Father's  house ;  to 
hold  high  and  holy  fellowship  with  the  Master 
and  the  saints  of  old  and  those  whom  we  have 
"  loved  long  since  and  lost  awhile ;  "  to  live  un 
der  celestial  influences  throughout  the  ages  of 
eternity,  working  and  growing  and  learning  and 
loving  and  approaching  but  never  quite  attain 
ing  unto  the  stature  and  character  of  God  — 
this  is  heaven. 


VIII 
THE   REWARD   OF   PREACHING 

Great  sacrifices  are  involved  in  preaching  the 
gospel.  A  man  must  forego  many  of  life's 
pleasures  and  even  normal  amusements.  In  re 
ality,  preachers  are  men  of  like  passions  and 
temptations  with  other  men,  and,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  they  may  be  no  better  than  other  men, 
but  they  are  at  least  expected  to  be  better. 
They  are  chosen  vessels  of  God,  set  apart  to 
represent  him  to  men,  and  in  turn  the  world 
places  a  premium  upon  the  preacher,  requiring 
of  him  a  life  that  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God.  It 
demands  that  he  shall  be  filled  with  all  of  the 
fullness  of  God,  and  thereby  rise  above  the  sor 
did,  the  soulless,  and  the  sinful.  The  very  fact 
that  he  is  set  apart  means  isolation,  abandon 
ment,  renunciation.  He  may  be  a  human,  so 
cial,  and  normal  entity;  he  must  be  a  man  of 
God  in  a  unique,  distinct  sense.  And  this  very 
fact  involves  a  certain  subtle  sacrifice,  for  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  he  is  bound  to  his  people 
in  a  peculiar,  spiritual  fellowship,  he  is  thereby 
separated  from  them  as  a  human,  normal  fellow 
30 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      31 

being.  This  costs  some  men  more  than  others. 
Some  preachers  delight  in  it,  while  others  chafe 
under  it.  Preachers  make  great  financial  sac 
rifices  to  preach  the  gospel,  and  many  of  them 
toil  incessantly,  suffer  infinite  hardships,  walk 
the  via  dolorosa,  and  renounce  the  thing  their 
hearts  hold  most  dear,  and  come  out  of  the 
battle  with  scars  on  their  forms. 

These  are  just  the  beginnings  of  the  true 
preacher's  sacrifices.  But  in  spite  of,  and  some 
times  by  means  of,  the  sacrifices  and  hardships 
and  great  hurts,  the  preacher's  reward  is  ex 
ceedingly  great  beyond  the  power  of  words  to 
express,  indeed,  transcendently  greater  than  any 
other  vocation.  In  proportion  to  the  dignity 
and  the  responsibility  of  the  work  is  the  reward 
of  it  all.  When  a  man  catches  the  outlines  of  a 
vision  vast  and  purposes  in  his  heart  to  follow 
the  great  Captain  even  into  the  shadows  and 
"  beyond  the  sunset  and  the  baths  of  all  the 
western  stars  "  of  service  and  suffering  and  love 
and  growth,  walking  in  his  footsteps  and  talking 
in  his  language  and  working  after  his  fashion, 
then  it  is  that  his  whole  life  is  invested  with  a 
new  meaning,  and  the  world  is  no  longer  a 
charnel  house  filled  with  specters,  but  Godlike 
and  his  Father's.  No  man  can  walk  with  his 
head  among  the  stars  without  feeling  the  influ 
ence  of  the  stars.  No  man  can  fill  his  life  with 


32      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

a  great  passion  without  feeling  the  thrill  of 
such  a  passion.  No  man  can  follow  the  great 
Captain  without  catching  somewhat  of  the 
Spirit  of  the  Captain.  The  preacher  is  God's 
good  man.  The  preacher  is  God's  ambassador 
to  the  courts  of  earth.  The  preacher  is  God's 
companion  in  his  walks  in  the  cool  of  the  even 
ing  among  the  children  of  men.  There  are 
scars  on  his  form  which  were  received  in  the 
service  of  his  Lord,  but  they  are  marks  of  his 
Lord,  and  in  the  city  not  made  with  hands  his 
Lord  will  know  him  by  his  scars.  There  are 
great  hurts  in  his  heart,  but  out  of  his  tears 
and  great  hurts  the  God  of  love  is  weaving  a 
garment  of  transcendent  beauty,  the  threads  of 
which  he  cannot  see  now;  but  by  and  by  in  the 
city  of  God  he  shall  see  the  garment  in  all  of 
its  beauty,  and  his  soul  shall  be  satisfied. 

Amid  the  toils  and  the  sacrifices,  amid  the 
pain  of  body  and  hurt  of  heart,  amid  the  fearful 
loneliness  and  sorrow  of  soul,  comes  the  voice 
of  the  Son  of  God  like  the  voice  of  one  who  has 
caught  the  music  of  the  world  in  one  wondrous 
note  and  wafted  it  over  a  world  of  sorrow  and 
suffering,  saying :  "  Well  done,  thou  good  and 
faithful  servant."  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done 
it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye 
have  done  it  unto  me."  What  care  we  for  the 
sacrifices  and  the  great  hurts  and  the  mockings 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      S3 

of  men  when  the  voice  of  the  Galilean  falls  upon 
our  ears  like  music  from  a  harp  of  a  thousand 
strings  tuned  by  the  fingers  of  God  and  played 
upon  by  the  angels  of  God? 

There  come  times  in  the  preacher's  life  — 
it  may  be  when  with  passion  and  power  he  is 
telling  the  old,  old  story  of  Jesus  and  his  love, 
or  it  may  be  when  with  love  like  unto  his  Lord's 
he  is  sweeping  into  some  life  like  a  great  north 
ern  light  with  the  high  theme  of  the  gospel  upon 
his  lips,  or  it  may  be  when  in  the  high  privilege 
of  prayer  he  holds  beautiful  fellowship  with 
his  Lord  —  there  come  times  when 

"  This  earth  we  walk  on  seems  not  earth, 
This  light  that  strikes  our  eyeballs  is  not  light, 
This  air  that  smites  our  forehead  is  not  air, 
But  vision." 

There  come  times  when 

"  There  are  flashes  struck  from  midnights, 
There  are  fire  flames  noondays  kindle, 
Whereby  piled-up  honors  perish, 

Whereby  swollen  ambitions  dwindle." 

There  come  times  when  we  stand  with  the  Mas 
ter  upon  some  mount  of  transfiguration  and  the 
countenance  of  our  faces  is  changed,  and  the 
garments  of  our  souls  glisten  and  shine,  and 
God's  gentle  voice  floats  down  to  us  out  of  the 


34      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

clouds,  and  we  become  a  part  of  the  angel  choir 
of  God,  and  we  know  that  we  know. 

Preaching  the  gospel  is  the  grandest  work  on 
earth.  It  pays  better  dividends  than  any  other 
investment.  The  true  preacher  builds  an  abid 
ing  throne  in  countless  human  hearts,  and  he 
becomes  a  prince  among  men,  and  this  through 
lowly  service  and  Christlike  ministrations  and 
love  which  "  takes  up  the  harp  of  life  and  smites 
on  all  the  chords  with  might,  smites  the  chord 
of  self,  which,  trembling,  passes  in  music  out  of 
sight."  We  cannot  all  preach  to  great  metro 
politan  churches,  we  cannot  all  hold  high  places 
in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  we  cannot  all  preach 
great  and  noble  sermons,  but,  according  to  the 
measure  of  ability  that  has  been  divinely  vouch 
safed  to  us,  we  can  all  serve  and  suffer  and  love 
and  witness  for  our  common  Lord.  And  after 
we  have  toiled  and  wrought  and  served  and 
suffered  and  reached  the  twilight  hour,  I  am 
thinking  that  the  great  Rewarder  of  men  will 
send  his  chariot,  and  when  we  arrive  at  the  city 
not  made  with  hands  our  Lord  will  lean  over 
the  golden  bars  of  the  New  Jerusalem  and  lift 
us  into  the  place  he  has  prepared  for  us. 


IX 

THE   PREACHER'S  IDEAL 

To  be  guided  by  love  rather  than  by  hate ;  to 
be  possessed  of  sweetness  of  nature,  purity  of 
heart,  and  spotlessness  of  soul;  to  live  such  a 
life  that  all  the  world  will  take  notice  that  we 
have  been  with  Jesus ;  to  dream  a  few  dreams 
which  shall  never  lose  their  freshness  and  reflex 
ive  power;  to  hold  so  high  the  torch  of  God's 
truth  and  mercy  that  wayfarers  will  not  lose 
their  way  in  the  mist  and  the  fog  of  life ;  to  en 
mesh  in  the  mystic  web  of  love  all  whom  we 
touch,  and  thereby  bind  them  closer  to  the  Man 
of  Galilee;  to  forget  our  little  malices  and  ha 
treds  and  jealousies  against  all  men,  and  espe 
cially  against  our  brethren  in  the  ministry;  to 
press  forward  day  by  day  beyond  the  outer  con 
fines  of  yesterday's  attainments,  until  finally 
we  shall  arrive  at  the  stature  of  perfect  men  in 
Christ  Jesus,  as  far  as  it  is  possible  to  be  per 
fect  in  a  world  of  manifold  human  limitations ; 
to  feed  the  flock  of  the  great  Shepherd  with  the 
bread  of  life,  and  lead  them  beside  the  still 
waters  of  love  and  through  green  pastures  of 
35 


36      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

hope ;  to  be  stirred  and  fired  by  such  a  passion 
for  souls  that,  in  a  beautiful  abandon  of  spirit 
and  forgetfulness  of  self,  we  shall  lose  our  lives 
in  the  service  of  the  Master  of  the  vineyard ;  to 
be  filled  and  thrilled  with  the  consciousness  of 
the  power  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  unto  the  sal 
vation  of  souls ;  to  count  it  more  worth  while 
to  be  grand  in  soul  than  powerful  in  intellect, 
and  yet  to  strive  mightily  after  intellectual  ex 
cellence  ;  to  sweep  into  at  least  a  few  lives  like 
some  great  northern  light  with  the  high  theme  of 
the  gospel  upon  our  lips ;  to  follow  the  Master 
all  the  way,  even  into  the  shadows  of  life,  hold 
ing  ever  to  the  great  truth  that  the  servant  is 
not  above  his  Lord;  to  tell  with  passion  and 
power  the  old,  old  story  of  Jesus  and  his  love, 
and  try  diligently  to  live  our  sermons ;  to  re 
frain  steadily  from  unholy  dreams  of  prestige 
and  power  and  place,  'cherishing  rather  the 
high  dream  of  lowly  service  and  Christlike  min 
istration  ;  to  wrap  the  arms  of  our  hearts  so 
passionately  about  the  forms  of  those  out  of 
whose  lives  the  light  has  gone  and  into  whose 
lives  the  night  has  come,  that  a  new  light  that 
never  was  on  sea  or  land  will  break  in  upon 
their  souls ;  to  so  touch  the  silent,  dormant 
chords  in  callous,  indifferent  lives  that  angels 
and  men  shall  pause  and  listen  to  the  new  note 
that  swells  the  harmony  of  the  universe ;  to  love 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      37 

little  children  and  bring  into  their  lives  some 
what  of  the  joy  and  light  that  radiated  from 
Him  who  said,  "  Suffer  little  children,  and  for 
bid  them  not,  to  come  unto  me;  for  of  such  is 
the  kingdom  of  heaven ;  "  to  be  pliable  and 
flexible  and  self-effacing  in  matters  of  policy  for 
the  kingdom  of  heaven's  sake,  but  to  refuse 
courageously  to  compromise  a  principle;  to 
preach  Christ  and  him  crucified  or  straightway 
leave  the  ministry;  to  make  sure  that  Christ  is 
the  ruling  passion  of  our  lives,  the  chief  Guest 
in  the  palace  of  our  hearts,  and  let  nothing, 
whether  fortune,  fame,  or  family,  separate  us 
from  the  love  of  Christ ;  and,  finally,  to  dedicate, 
to  consecrate  our  all  upon  the  altar  of  the  living 
God  —  this  is  the  preacher's  ideal. 


WIRELESS  TELEGRAPHY  AND  THE 
LIFE  OF  THE  SOUL 

Viewing  it  from  a  material  standpoint,  wire 
less  telegraphy  is  possibly  the  most  remarkable 
conception  of  the  present  remarkable  age,  but 
it  appeals  to  me  as  the  tangible  herald  of  a 
larger  and  richer  and  higher  intangible  message 
and  reality.  The  wireless  station  registers  ex 
ternal  impressions  and  thereby  becomes  an  in 
animate  receptive  objective.  We  are  intellec 
tually,  aesthetically,  and  spiritually  animate 
receptive  objectives,  registering  upon  our  re 
ceptive  brain  cells,  upon  the  tablets  of  our 
hearts,  and  upon  the  scrolls  of  our  souls  exter 
nal  impressions  of  various  natures.  But  it  is 
not  only  this  simple  platitude  that  I  am  reach 
ing  after;  it  is  a  yet  larger  and  richer  con 
ception.  The  material  universe  is  a  logical 
projection  of  an  unseen  force  or  entity,  which 
we  call  God.  Every  cause  must  have  an  effect. 
Back  of  star  shine  and  ocean  tide  and  mountain 
glory  must  be  a  great  first  cause.  Between  this 
logical,  tangible,  material  projection  and  this 
38 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      39 

unseen  force  there  must,  of  necessity,  be  a  bond 
of  fellowship,  a  vital  connection,  golden  chains 
of  invisible  links.  Nature  obeys  blindly;  man 
willingly  or  not  at  all.  This  spiritual  entity, 
this  vast  leverage  that  we  call  first  cause,  is 
essentially  not  only  greater  than  the  audible, 
the  visible,  and  the  tangible,  but  is  logically  the 
greatest  conception  in  the  realm  of  the  seen  or 
the  unseen.  The  veil  separating  the  seen  and 
the  unseen  is  thin  or  thick,  as  we  are  deli 
cately  wrought  spiritual  instruments  or  fleshly 
screened  obtuse  receptive  objectives.  The  bor 
derland  between  the  spiritual  and  the  material 
is  twilight  zone  or  midnight  darkness,  as  we 
have  eyes  to  see  and  ears  to  hear,  or  have  eyes 
and  see  not  and  ears  and  hear  not.  According 
to  the  evolutionary  process  of  the  development 
of  the  human  race  from  an  imperfect,  obtuse, 
material  substructure  into  a  more  perfect,  com 
plete,  and  spiritual  superstructure,  we  conclude 
that  the  trend  of  progress  and  the  march  of 
evolution  is  from  the  material  to  the  spiritual, 
from  the  tangible  to  the  intangible,  from  the 
visible  to  the  invisible.  Men  are  supremely 
great,  not  because  they  can  fight  valiantly  and 
accomplish  marvelous  physical  feats,  but  rather 
because  they  are  grand  in  soul,  and  they  are 
grand  in  soul  because  they  have  connected  them 
selves  with  this  vast  spiritual  leverage  that  lies 


40      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

back  of  the  material,  and  therefore  they  project 
not  themselves  into  the  currents  of  life,  but  they 
project  this  supernatural  entity  in  proportion 
as  they  have  freely  opened  themselves  as  an 
objective.  The  greatest  man,  then,  is  the  most 
receptive  man,  the  man  who  is  most  teachable 
in  the  largest  sense  of  the  word. 

Now,  there  is  a  certain  material  harmony  of 
"  things  in  general  "  on  the  lower  planes  of  life, 
and  there  is  a  constant  registering  of  these  har 
monies  and  impressions ;  but  a  higher,  finer, 
grander  harmony  exists,  the  dominant  note  of 
which  is  spirit  and  the  sound  thereof  celestial. 
This  larger,  richer  harmony  of  "  things  in  gen 
eral  "  has  to  do  primarily  with  the  spiritual 
realm,  and  therefore  is  just  beyond  the  wireless 
stations  of  our  minds  and  souls,  because  our 
human  instruments  are  not  delicate  enough  to 
register  the  celestial  voices,  and  the  flesh  so 
screens  us  that  we  cannot  receive  the  divine 
impressions.  Shakespeare  says : 

"  How  sweet  the  moonlight  sleeps  upon  this  bank ! 
Here  we  will  sit  and  let  the  sounds  of  music 
Creep  in  our  ears:  soft  stillness  and  the  night 
Become  the  touches  of  sweet  harmony. 
.  .  .  Look  how  the  floor  of  heaven 
Is  thick  inlaid  with  patines  of  bright  gold: 
There's  not  the  smallest  orb  which  thou  behold'st 
But  in  his  motion  like  an  angel  sings, 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      41 

Still   quiring   to   the   young-eyed   cherubims. 
Such  harmony  is  in  immortal  souls; 
But  whilst  this  muddy  vesture  of  decay 
Doth  grossly  close  it  in,  we  cannot  hear  it." 

Christ  says :  "  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart : 
for  they  shall  see  God."  I  take  this  to  mean 
that  we  shall  not  only  see  him  beyond  the  veil 
of  which  we  have  been  speaking,  when  the  fleshly 
screen  is  left  behind  and  the  soul  looks  with  its 
own  eyes,  but  that  it  is  possible  here  to  roll 
back  the  screen  of  the  flesh  and  with  the  eyes 
of  the  soul  to  catch  an  outline  of  the  vision  of 
God.  I  take  it  to  mean  that  we  shall  not  only 
see  him  in  nature  and  in  the  lives  of  our  fellow 
men,  but  that  we  shall  through  purity  of  heart 
and  spotlessness  of  soul  transcend  the  utmost 
bounds  of  material  entities  and  establish  a  visible 
bond  of  relationship  between  the  invisible  en 
tity  that  lies  back  of  the  seen.  A  man  with 
soul  on  fire  with  music  touches  the  keys  of  a 
great  pipe  organ.  Matchless  melodies  issue 
from  the  organ,  and  the  building  is  transformed 
into  a  vast  concord.  Thousands  of  people  are 
listening.  Some  hear  only  a  rolling  noise  pleas 
ing  to  the  physical  ear.  Others  are  moved  by 
the  splendid  technique  and  the  execution  of  the 
master  musician.  Still  others  hear  a  deeper 
note  of  soul  calling  unto  soul  and  soul  answering 
unto  soul.  Some  go  a  step  farther  and  catch 


42      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

a  gleam  or  two  of  the  soul  of  the  composer. 
Others  in  a  single  royal  leap  are  lifted  into  the 
land  of  dreams  and  catch  a  whiff  of  the  broken 
dreams  of  the  great  composer,  of  the  visions 
of  his  life,  of  the  music  that  was  in  his  soul  cry 
ing  passionately  for  expression,  but  could  not 
be  born  on  account  of  the  screen  of  the  flesh  and 
the  dampening  influence  of  the  world.  But 
there  are  a  few  —  only  a  few  —  who  listen,  and 
as  they  listen  the  pipe  organ,  the  majestic  build 
ing,  the  technique  of  the  master  musician,  the 
soul  of  the  composer,  and  the  unutterable  music 
of  his  soul,  all  are  splendidly  lost  and  swallowed 
up  in  the  larger  conception,  in  a  richer  melody, 
in  a  more  wondrous  symphony.  They  feel 
themselves  a  part  of  the  vast  choir  invisible  of 
the  inarticulate  world  of  inaudible  music,  and 
voices  from  the  tideless  seas  of  celestial  sounds 
float  in  upon  their  souls,  and  they  are  borne 
afar,  farther  and  farther  into  the  mystic  realms 
of  the  vast  unseen,  losing  themselves  finally  in 
sight  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  the  great  white 
throne,  and  the  Father's  face.  They  were  per 
fect  wireless  stations,  registering  as  receptive 
objectives  the  whole  grand  scheme  of  divine 
and  celestial  harmonies,  and  thereby  transcend 
ing  the  utmost  confines  of  time  and  space  and 
place,  pitching  the  tents  of  their  souls  "  beyond 
the  sunset  and  the  baths  of  all  the  western 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      43 

stars,"  of  the  tangible,  the  audible,  and  the  visi 
ble. 

I  am  thinking  this  is  the  gist  of  life,  our 
chief  business.  We  are  divinely  projected  into 
this  mundane  relationship,  and  we  are  divinely 
expected  not  only  to  adjust  ourselves  harmoni 
ously  with  our  material  and  actual  environment, 
but  we  are  divinely  expected  to  establish  indi 
vidual  wireless  telegraphic  stations,  which  sta 
tions  shall  perfectly  register  inaudible  and 
intangible  spiritual  messages  and  thereby  be 
come  a  vital  part  of  the  larger  and  higher 
harmony  of  celestial  "  things  in  general."  In 
other  words,  there  is  a  possibility  of  our  walk 
ing  with  our  feet  on  the  ground  and  our  heads 
among  the  stars.  Why  not?  Is  not  our  na 
ture  dual?  Are  we  not  of  the  race  of  God  as 
well  as  of  man?  The  souls  of  men  have  been 
cramped  and  twisted  and  warped  too  long  Ac 
cording  to  the  evolutionary  process,  why  cannot 
the  unborn  centuries  to  come  establish  a  friction- 
less  bond  of  fellowship  between  the  souls  of  men 
and  the  Oversoul? 


XI 
A  CHRISTMAS   THOUGHT 

The  years  and  the  centuries  come  and  go, 
only  to  make  clearer  to  the  children  of  men  the 
memory  of  the  manger  cradle  and  the  marvelous 
Wonder  of  Galilee.  Well  may  we,  His  follow 
ers,  celebrate  this  most  wonderful  event  in  the 
history  of  the  ages;  for  since  the  Christ  came 
as  a  little  child  and  wrapped  his  arms  tenderly 
about  the  forms  of  little  children,  the  world 
has  bowed  its  head  in  sacred  reverence  to  the 
glory  of  motherhood  and  the  beauty  of  child 
hood.  To-day  a  true  mother's  knee  is  the 
purest  altar  from  which  prayer  ascends  to  the 
throne  of  God,  and  baby  feet  making  melody 
in  the  human  heart  is  the  sweetest  music  that 
has  ever  lifted  the  broken  lives  of  men  and 
women  to  the  heights  immortal.  In  the  light  of 
the  coming  of  Christ  to  a  world  of  sin  and  dark 
ness  and  sorrow,  how  beautiful,  how  inspiring 
is  that  immortal  little  prayer : 

"  Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep, 
I  pray  thee,  Lord,  my  soul  to  keep ; 
If  I  should  die  before  I  wake, 
I  pray  thee,  Lord,  my  soul  to  take !  " 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      45 

There  are  times  when  the  voice  of  a  little 
child  following  brokenly  after  its  mother  the 
words  of  that  little  prayer  fills  and  thrills  our 
souls  with  an  inexplicable  something  that  lifts 
us  far  above  the  life  of  the  flesh  into  the  shining 
tableland  of  the  larger  and  higher  life,  into  the 
measureless  realms  inhabited  only  by  the  soul 
and  God.  Since  Christ  was  born  of  a  woman, 
it  is  not  the  king  on  his  throne,  nor  the  warrior 
on  fields  of  battle,  nor  the  statesman  in  legisla 
tive  halls,  but  the  mother  in  the  home  who,  un 
der  God,  shapes  the  destiny  of  the  nations. 

In  the  beautiful  legend  of  the  angel's  visit 
to  earth  three  things  were  borne  on  angel  wings 
back  to  the  city  not  made  with  hands  —  a 
mother's  love,  the  smile  of  a  little  child,  and  a 
beautiful  flower.  The  smile  faded  on  the  way 
and  the  flower  withered,  but  the  mother's  love 
faded  not  away  nor  yet  did  it  wither.  O  Christ, 
in  the  divine  abandon  of  thy  matchless  love  and 
thy  marvelous  sacrifice,  thou  hast  not  only  re 
vealed  the  face  of  our  Father  who  is  in  heaven 
and  reconciled  a  lost  world,  but  thou  hast  lifted 
womanhood  out  of  the  night  and  into  the  light, 
out  of  shame  and  infinite  heartache  into  exquisite 
purity  and  largest  life,  and  with  thy  pierced 
hand  hast  reached  out  into  the  fogs  of  supersti 
tion  and  sin  and  human  weakness  and  saved  unto 
thyself  the  little  children  of  the  world ! 


XII 
THE  CELESTIAL  CITY 

Mother,  home,  and  heaven  are  the  three  words 
around  which  cluster  the  most  sacred  associa 
tions.  They  are  invested  with  tender  charm 
and  idyllic  sweetness.  The  idea  of  home  fills 
and  thrills  us  with  higher  ideals  and  larger  pur 
poses.  The  thought  of  mother  sways  the  heart 
and  enriches  the  whole  of  life.  The  contempla 
tion  of  heaven  begets  within  us  more  sweetness 
of  nature,  more  holiness  in  living,  more  charity 
for  man,  more  love  for  God.  The  thoughts  of 
good  men,  though  fastened  upon  the  things  of 
earth,  wander  toward  the  city  not  made  with 
hands.  The  highest  dreams  of  men  find  lodg 
ment  in  the  celestial  city.  Heaven  is  not  a  theme 
to  exploit  or  to  use  as  a  medium  in  playing 
upon  the  emotions  of  people.  Much  violence 
has  been  done  to  this  most  sacred  subject.  A 
sermon  or  a  harangue  on  heaven  is  always  lis 
tened  to,  because  the  world  knows  so  little  about 
it  and  is  so  vitally  interested  in  it  that  it  would 
gladly  hear  more.  We  may  allow  our  imagina 
tion  to  run  riot  and  our  fancy  full  play  and 
46 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      47 

evolve  some  astonishing  theories.  But  in  the 
last  analysis  all  we  know  about  heaven  is  what 
the  Bible  teaches  about  heaven.  And  for  some 
mysterious  reason  Christ  taught  far  less  con 
cerning  heaven  than  He  did  about  earth  and  our 
life  here.  May  not  this  be  because  He  wants 
us  to  work  out  our  destiny  here  by  His  help 
and  trust  Him  to  prepare  and  look  after  our 
welfare  there?  But  in  spite  of  the  meager 
definite,  detailed  knowledge  obtainable  on  this 
vital  subject,  there  is  a  good  deal  that  we  know 
about  heaven  directly  and  indirectly. 

We  know  that  heaven  is  a  place.  Christ  said 
so :  "I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you."  We 
do  not  know  where  this  place  is.  Christ,  in 
speaking  of  it  and  in  addressing  His  Father, 
led  us  to  believe  that  it  was  above  us,  in  the  sky, 
far-off  and  cloud-wrapped.  But  that  is  very 
vague  and  uncertain.  Where  in  the  sky  is 
heaven?  No  man  knows,  and  no  man  need  pre 
tend  that  he  knows,  be  he  ever  so  wise,  for  he 
cannot  know.  It  seems  to  have  pleased  God 
for  us  not  to  know.  Some  have  believed  and 
taught  that  heaven  is  only  on  earth,  in  good 
people  and  good  places,  but  that  is  not  only 
vague  but  dangerous  and  obviously  erroneous 
doctrine.  Others  believe  that  heaven  will  be 
on  earth  after  the  world  is  destroyed,  but  that 
is  a  wild  guess  without  fact  or  foundation. 


48      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

Still  others  think  that  heaven  will  be  located  at 
special  places  on  earth,  such  as  Jerusalem,  the 
garden  of  Eden,  etc.,  which  theory  is  likewise 
only  a  theory.  We  can  only  know  that  it  is  a 
place,  but  it  is  a  place  which  Christ  has  pre 
pared.  Therefore  heaven  is  a  prepared  place 
for  a  prepared  people.  Christ  prepares  it  for 
the  people  whom  He  prepares  for  it,  for  none 
others  are  ready.  A  wedding  garment  must  be 
worn  in  order  to  enter  the  celestial  city,  and 
this  garment  is  woven  for  us  by  Christ. 

We  do  not  know  in  definite  fashion  the  nature 
of  this  city  which  hath  foundations,  whose 
builder  and  maker  is  God,  but  we  know  that  it 
is  transcendently  beautiful  beyond  the  power  of 
words  to  express.  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear 
heard,  neither  hath  it  entered  into  the  heart  of 
man  what  God  has  prepared  for  His  children 
in  the  inheritance  to  come.  In  gorgeous  lan 
guage  and  picturesque  conceptions  St.  John  the 
divine  presents  a  picture  of  heaven  as  he  caught 
apocalyptic  visions  from  the  Isle  of  Patmos. 
His  picture  has  appealed  most  vitally  to  the 
heart  of  the  world.  We  are  finite  and  human. 
We  are  circumscribed  by  human  and  finite  limi 
tations.  We  rarely  grasp  realities  in  essence 
and  spirit  beyond  the  tangible  and  audible  and 
visible.  We  need  something  tangible  to  steady 
us.  St.  John  materialized  heaven  in  ideal 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      49 

fashion.  In  doing  so  he  made  a  tremendous 
appeal  to  the  human  race,  for  men  love  gold 
and  pearl  and  jasper  and  dazzling  beauty. 
Some  good  Bible  scholars  declare  that  there  are 
no  such  realities  as  golden  streets,  pearly  gates, 
etc.  They  hold  that  a  marvelous  celestial  vision 
was  vouchsafed  to  John  on  Patmos  of  spiritual 
beauties  and  celestial  realities  too  excellent  for 
human  language  to  utter.  They  argue  that  ce 
lestial  conditions  can  be  expressed  only  in  celes 
tial  language,  that  human  speech  is  hopelessly 
limited  in  describing  such  conditions,  and  that  we 
can  really  form  no  conception  of  the  spiritual 
glory  and  heavenly  beauty  of  this  city  until  we 
see  it  with  the  eyes  of  the  soul  and  speak  to  its 
citizens  with  the  voice  of  the  spirit.  But  John 
caught  this  splendid  vision  and  felt  impelled  to 
share  it.  The  question  was,  how  to  impart  the 
vision.  He  ransacked  the  vocabulary  of  the 
world  for  words  big  and  beautiful  and  pregnant 
enough,  and  failing  in  his  effort  to  express  it, 
he  made  the  city  as  beautiful  and  as  gorgeous 
as  he  could,  using  language  which  could  be  un 
derstood  by  men  and  presented  to  men  as  lovely 
a  picture  of  heaven  as  the  human  mind  could 
desire.  These  commentators  contend  that 
heaven  is  not  a  material  place,  that  no  flesh  and 
blood  can  enter  there,  that  all  is  spiritual  and 
enduring  throughout  the  cycles  and  aeons  of 


50      «  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

eternity.  But  matter  and  flesh  do  not  abide 
changeless  with  the  passage  of  the  years.  Hence 
this  picture  of  John's  is  figurative,  which  does 
not  mean  that  it  is  false,  but  rather  symbolic  of 
a  rarer,  larger,  richer  beauty  which  no  man 
can  describe.  On  the  other  hand,  another  school 
insists  on  the  literal  interpretation,  and  they 
believe  that  we  shall  some  day  walk  the  golden 
streets  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  and  see  the  pearly 
gates  of  the  celestial  city,  and  lean  over  golden 
bars,  and  rest  beneath  the  shade  of  kindly 
trees.  But  we  cannot  know  definitely  who  is 
right.  We  simply  know  that  heaven  is  a  place 
of  incomparable  and  inexplicable  beauty  and 
God  has  spared  no  pains  in  the  preparation  of 
such  a  place  for  those  who  love  and  serve  the 
Lord. 

We  know  that  heaven  is  a  place  of  high  and 
holy  and  rich  fellowship.  We  know  that  holy 
men  of  old  who  wrought  and  toiled  and  served 
and  suffered  for  God  will  be  there;  we  know 
that  Mary  Magdalene  and  Mary  of  Bethany  and 
Mary  the  mother  of  our  Lord  will  be  there ;  we 
know  that  the  good  people  whom  we  have  known 
in  the  flesh  will  be  there ;  we  know  that  the  apos 
tles  will  be  there;  we  know  that  Christ  will  be 
there.  We  know  that  the  followers  of  Christ 
will  come  up  from  the  east  and  the  west  and 
the  north  and  the  south  and  sit  down  in  heav- 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      51 

enly  places.  This  will  be  a  select,  though  a 
tremendous,  company.  They  will  be  the  salt 
of  the  earth  and  the  saved  in  heaven.  The  con 
templation  of  such  a  host  of  kindred  spirits 
elevates  the  soul,  for  we  know  that  they  all  will 
be  in  one  accord  and  in  one  place.  We  know 
that  they  will  have  a  community  of  interests  and 
a  single  purpose  and  a  common  ruling  passion, 
which  is  the  Lamb  in  the  midst.  All  will  be 
one  great  family.  Christ  will  be  the  binding 
influence.  There  will  be  no  jealousy  there; 
there  will  be  no  envy  there;  there  will  be  no 
strife  there;  there  will  be  no  sin  there.  The 
companionship  of  heaven  will  be  one  of  its  chief 
attractions.  We  who  can  form  high  and  holy 
friendships  here  are  made  sad  by  the  separations 
and  partings  of  life.  We  would  be  with  our 
friends  more.  We  do  not  have  the  opportunity 
to  cultivate  enough  friends.  The  limitations  of 
earth  are  so  narrow.  But  in  heaven  friendship 
will  run  riot  and  still  be  reasonable.  Social 
distinctions  will  not  separate  us  there  as  here: 
money  will  not  be  there  to  cause  one  citizen  to 
look  down  on  another :  and  the  top-loftical  eccle 
siastic  or  high  functionary  who  cannot  afford 
to  associate  with  unimportant  folks  here  will 
either  be  on  a  common  level  there  or  will  be  there 
not  at  all,  for  the  good  Lord  is  not  pleased  with 
the  foolishness  of  men.  He  has  said  so.  We 


52      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

sometimes  long  to  see  Shakespeare  or  Robert 
Lee  or  John  Wesley  or  some  other  giant  among 
the  sons  of  men.  But  think  of  seeing  Christ 
face  to  face,  of  looking  into  His  eyes  with  the 
eyes  of  our  soul,  of  hearing  His  voice  call  us 
by  name  and  welcome  us  as  a  fellow  heir  into 
the  place  He  has  prepared  for  us!  Heaven 
without  Christ  would  be  hell,  for  He  is  the  light 
of  the  city  and  the  life  thereof.  Think  of  meet 
ing  the  apostle  Paul,  with  the  marks  of  his  Lord 
upon  him,  and  the  privilige  of  hearing  him  tell 
about  his  work  and  sufferings  and  death  for  his 
Lord!  I  imagine  most  of  us  would  look  up 
Mary  Magdalene  as  soon  as  possible  and  ask  her 
to  tell  us  all  about  how  she  rose  from  a  woman 
of  the  street  houseless  by  night  to  the  sublimest 
heights  of  high  and  holy  womanhood,  and  how 
it  was  that  she  was  able  to  love  so  trans  cend- 
ently  well.  And  I  am  thinking  that  several 
days  would  be  well  spent  in  listening  to  old 
Peter's  triumphs  and  deep  humiliations.  And 
all  who  have  ever  loved  beautifully  will  be  eager 
to  strike  hands  with  the  great  apostle  of  love 
whom  Christ  loved  as  man.  Heaven  will  be  a 
place  of  high  and  holy  and  rich  fellowship  and 
sanctified  friendships  than  which  nothing  is  more 
delightful  on  earth  or  in  heaven.  This  alone 
is  worth  all  it  costs  to  get  there. 

Heaven  is  a  place  of  activity  and  service  and 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      53 

growth.  Life  there  is  not  only  ageless  but  con 
tinuous.  Idleness  has  no  place  in  the  economy 
of  God.  In  His  plan  nothing  treads  with  idle 
feet.  The  drone  in  heaven  is  as  much  a  mon 
strosity  as  the  drone  on  earth.  Heaven  is  a 
place  of  rest,  but  stagnation  is  not  rest,  and 
idleness  is  not  rest.  If  heaven  means  sitting 
under  shade  trees  eating  milk  and  honey  and 
playing  on  golden  harps  —  and  nothing  else  — 
some  live,  robust  folks  with  red  corpuscles  would 
not  greatly  care  to  go  to  heaven.  It  is  inter 
esting  to  study  the  opinions  of  different  people 
concerning  the  nature  of  heaven,  its  employ 
ments,  etc.  Generally,  people  think  of  heaven 
as  a  place  where  their  unfulfilled  earthly  desires 
will  be  gratified  ad  libitum.  For  instance,  the 
negro  who  has  to  work  in  the  heat  of  Southern 
suns  and  often  times  suffer  hunger,  dreams  of 
heaven  as  a  place  of  shade  trees  and  milk  and 
honey  in  abundance.  The  tired  house-wife, 
whose  work  is  never  done,  dreams  of  a  place  of 
rest.  To  her  nothing  is  sweeter  than  rest. 
She  wants  rest.  She  has  heard  much  of 
heaven  as  a  place  of  absolute  bliss,  but  for  her 
there  can  be  no  bliss  where  there  is  no  rest. 
The  Indian  wants  a  happy  hunting  ground 
and  a  surfeit  of  the  chase,  and  that  is  his 
dream  of  heaven.  The  Mohammedan  looks  for 
sensuous  pleasures  and  beautiful  maidens  for 


54      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

constant  companions.  The  painter  painting 
under  terrestrial  limitations,  unable  to  put  upon 
canvas  the  immortal  children  of  his  soul, 
dreams  of  four  walls  in  the  New  Jerusalem 
where  he  may  paint  under  celestial  conditions 
the  pictures  which  he  could  not  paint  on  earth. 
The  poet  with  the  adverse  influences  of  the 
world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil  quenching  his 
high  songs  and  warping  his  fine  spirit,  yearns 
for  a  heavenly  scroll  and  celestial  measures  and 
the  Homers  of  heaven  to  appreciate  his  poetry. 
The  musicians  with  souls  on  fire  with  inarticu 
late  music  dream  of  striking  divine  harmonies 
from  the  strings  of  heavenly  harps.  The  lover 
whose  beautiful  dreams  of  consummated  love 
returned  to  him  flotsam  and  jetsam  hopes  to 
reach  a  far  country  across  the  mystic  river 
where  he  will  find  the  soul  of  his  soul  with 
whom  he  shall  dwell  forever  and  forever.  But 
all  of  these  are  dreams.  I  believe  some  of 
them  will  be  realized,  and  I  believe  some  will 
not  be  realized.  We  may  look  for  service  and 
work  and  growth  as  a  certainty.  Nowhere  does 
the  Bible  teach  that  heaven  is  stagnation  and 
idleness  and  selfish  ease.  Christ  has  no  pa 
tience  with  them  who  are  at  ease  in  Zion. 
Earth's  experience  prepares  us  for  heaven's 
larger  experience.  The  service  we  render  here 
is  symbolic  of  the  larger  service  we  shall  render 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      55 

there.  Our  growth  in  grace  and  knowledge 
and  wisdom  here  argues  a  larger  and  a  wider 
growth  hereafter.  We  do  not  complete  our 
education  in  the  school  of  life.  We  enter  at 
death  into  the  university  of  the  skies,  and  we 
grow  and  work  and  attain,  learning  new  les 
sons  of  love,  gleaning  new  truths  about  God, 
grasping  fuller  visions  of  Christ's  sacrifice  and 
mission  and  person,  gradually  approaching  but 
never  attaining  unto  the  perfection  and  holi 
ness  of  God.  Heaven  is  no  nursery  for  idlers, 
no  flesh  pots  for  gluttons,  no  display  of  precious 
gems  for  the  gratification  of  gold-loving  misers, 
but  a  place  prepared  by  Christ  for  all  who  love 
and  trust  and  serve  Him  here  —  a  place  of 
opportunity  and  peace  and  happiness  and  serv 
ice  and  growth,  a  place  good  men  and  women  will 
recognize  as  home  and  bad  men  and  women  would 
consider  hell. 

Heaven  is  a  home  without  night,  for  there 
shall  be  no  night  there,  without  tears,  for  God 
shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  our  eyes,  and 
with  perpetual  light,  for  Christ  is  the  light  of 
that  home.  This  is  certain.  We  may  rest 
upon  these  promises:  Heaven  is  home;  heaven 
is  full  of  light ;  there  can  be  no  night  there ;  God 
will  wipe  away  all  tears.  Earth  has  nothing 
like  this  to  offer.  Earth's  treasures  dazzle  us, 
but  earth  is  poor  in  eternal  values.  The  desire 


56      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

of  home  is  strong  in  the  human  heart.  Even 
a  home  on  earth,  which  may  be  swept  away  in 
a  moment  of  time,  is  sweet  to  us.  It  is  symbolic 
of  our  home  in  heaven.  The  home  idea  of 
heaven  is  the  strongest  and  most  beautiful  ap 
peal  it  makes  to  the  children  of  men.  And  it 
is  a  nightless  home,  and  it  is  a  tearless  home. 
And  God  is  the  Father  of  the  home,  and  none 
of  His  children  shall  suffer  or  weep  or  grow 
weary  or  endure  great  hurts.  Men  have  re 
nounced  father  and  mother  and  sisters  and 
brothers  and  houses  and  lands  for  such  an  in 
heritance.  Men  have  lived  in  caves  and  en 
dured  infinite  hardships  for  such  a  prize.  Men 
have  crossed  rivers  and  seas  of  fire  and  climbed 
great  mountains  of  difficulty  for  such  a  home. 
Men  have  turned  their  backs  upon  the  glare 
and  the  glitter  and  the  glory  of  the  world,  and 
followed  the  great  Captain  out  into  the  night, 
for  such  a  reward.  The  far  country  beckons 
us  on  and  on  and  on,  and  its  charm  is  ever 
fresh  and  fragant,  and  its  gestures  are  ever 
beautiful  and  eloquent.  We  are  not  to  serve 
God  and  man  simply  to  get  to  heaven,  but  the 
fact  that  at  eventide  our  Father  will  call  His 
tired  children  home  is  a  wonderful  incentive  to 
right  living  and  fine  deeds.  I  do  not  know  that 
the  streets  are  gold  and  the  gates  are  pearl.  I 
do  not  know  just  what  the  celestial  citizens  will 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      57 

do  and  how  they  will  do  it.  I  do  not  know  just 
where  the  heavenly  home  is.  I  do  not  know  the 
details  and  the  nature  of  this  wonderful  city. 
But  I  know  that  my  Lord  is  there  and  I  would 
be  where  He  is  forever  and  forever.  I  know 
that  He  is  preparing  a  home  for  us,  which 
fadeth  not  away.  I  know  that  if  we  trust  Him 
and  serve  Him  and  give  our  life  to  Him  here, 
He  will  receive  us  into  that  home.  I  know  that 
there  will  be  perfect  peace  and  perfect  happiness 
and  perfect  fellowship.  I  know  that  there  shall 
be  no  night  there  and  God  shall  wipe  away  all 
tears  from  our  eyes  and  we  shall  grow  into  the 
image  of  our  Lord. 


XIII 
THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  THE  SOUL 

The  instinct  of  immortality  dates  back  to  the 
gray  dawn  of  history  and  thought.  John  Fiske 
says,  "  The  idea  of  death  is  something  impossible 
for  the  primitive  mind  to  entertain,"  and  Emer 
son  says,  "  In  the  minds  of  all  men,  or  wherever 
man  appears,  this  belief  appears  with  him,  in 
the  savage,  savagely ;  in  the  pure,  purely." 
The  Egyptians  believed  in  a  future  existence. 
Scholars  have  read  inscriptions  on  monuments 
and  writings  on  papyri  written  over  forty  cen 
turies  ago,  and  they  testify  to  this  belief.  On 
one  papyrus  are  these  words,  "His  soul  is  living 
eternally."  Zoroaster  taught  a  general  resur 
rection  and  a  judgment  day,  and  Homer,  who 
lived  nearly  one  thousand  years  before  Christ, 
taught  in  that  marvelous  poem,  "  The  Odyssey," 
that  the  future  life  is  but  a  shadow  of  the  present. 
Socrates,  the  most  splendid  human  embodiment 
of  the  highest  heathen  civilization,  who  was 
born  about  five  hundred  years  B.  C.,  said:  "  But 
those  who  are  found  to  have  lived  an  eminently 

holy  life,  these  are  they  who  being  freed  and  set 
58 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      59 

at  large  from  these  regions  in  the  earth,  as  from 
a  prison,  arrive  at  the  pure  abode  above  .  .  . 
since  our  soul  is  certainly  immortal."  In  one 
form  or  another,  highly  developed  or  imper 
fectly  conceived,  the  idea  of  a  future  life  has 
engaged  the  attention  of  all  nations  and  peoples 
of  earth.  "  Nations  have  been  found  without 
cities,  without  the  arts  and  sciences,  without  the 
mechanical  inventions  or  any  of  the  refinements 
of  civilized  life,  but  a  nation  without  the  pre 
sentiment  of  the  existence  of  a  future  state  we 
shall  search  for  in  vain."  How  do  we  account 
for  this,  if  we  claim  that  there  is  no  immortality 
of  the  soul?  Can  a  universal  idea  be  false? 
What  is  this  if  not  the  voice  of  God  speaking  in 
the  souls  of  men?  Cicero  long  since  said:  "  In 
everything  the  consent  of  all  nations  is  to  be 
accounted  the  law  of  nature,  and  to  resist  is  to 
resist  the  voice  of  God."  A  lie  cannot  perpetu 
ate  itself.  Why  then  has  the  thought  of  age 
less  life  entered  into  the  universal  mind  if  it  be 
but  a  lie?  Universal  ideas  are  essentially 
founded  upon  truth.  Error  is  sectional;  truth 
universal. 

"  If  then  all  men,,  both  good  and  bad,  do  teach 
With  general  voice,  that  souls  can  never  die, 

"Pis  not  man's  flattering  gloss,  but  nature's  speech, 
Which,  like  God's  oracles,  can  never  lie." 


60      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

This  belief  is  not  the  fruit  of  education,  but 
rather  intuitive,  instinctive  knowledge.  We  do 
not  find  instincts  falsified  in  the  plan  of  nature. 
Instinct  teaches  a  bird  to  wing  its  flight  across 
the  seas  in  quest  of  a  milder  clime.  Why  should 
not  the  instinct  of  the  soul  be  even  superior  to 
physical  impulses?  All  of  the  other  instincts 
in  man  are  provided  for,  therefore  why  should 
the  reaches  of  the  soul  be  despised  by  the 
Creator,  or  Over-soul?  These  noble  lines  of 
Addison's  bear  quoting  in  this  connection: 

"  It  must  be  so.     Plato,  thou  reasonest  well, 

Else  whence  this  pleasing  hope,  this  fond  desire; 

This  longing  after  immortality! 

Or  whence  this  secret  dread  and  inward  horror 

Of  falling  into  naught?     Why  shrinks  the  soul 

Back  on  herself  and  startles  at  destruction? 

'Tis  the  divinity  that  stirs  within  us, 

'Tis  heaven  itself  that  points  out  a  hereafter 

And  intimates  eternity  to  man." 

An  atheist  requested  on  his  death-bed  to  be 
buried  by  the  side  of  his  Christian  wife  and 
daughter.  When  asked  why,  he  replied :  "  If 
there  be  a  resurrection  of  the  righteous,  they 
will  get  me  up  somehow  or  other  and  take  me 
with  them." 

Man's  restless  spirit  is  a  proof  of  his  immor 
tality.  Wealth  can  not  satisfy  the  soul.  Said 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      6l 

a  man  to  Rothschild,  "  You  must  be  a  thor 
oughly  happy  man."  Said  he:  "Happy? 
Me  happy?  Happy,  when  just  as  I  am  going 
out  to  dine  a  man  sends  me  a  note  saying,  *  If 
you  don't  send  me  five  hundred  pounds  before 
to-morrow  night  I  will  blow  your  brains  out.' 
Me  happy?  " 

Wm.  H.  Vanderbilt  was  so  annoyed  because 
he  and  Robert  Garret  could  not  come  to  an 
agreement  that  he  fell  to  the  floor  and  died  in 
a  fit  of  apoplexy. 

From  the  dying  bed  of  Queen  Elizabeth  comes 
the  cry,  "  Millions  of  money  for  an  inch  of 
time." 

Fame  cannot  satisfy  the  soul.  Charles  Lamb 
enjoyed  the  applause  of  men,  but  says  he,  "  I 
walk  up  and  down  thinking  I  am  happy,  but 
feeling  I  am  not."  Was  Samuel  Johnson 
happy  ?  "  No ;  I  am  afraid  I  shall  some  day 
go  crazy."  The  famous  Edmund  Burke  was 
the  author  of  this  sentence :  "  I  doubt  whether 
in  these  hard  times  I  would  give  a  peck  of  refuse 
wheat  for  all  that  is  called  fame  in  the  world." 

After  a  dozen  successful  campaigns  and  lay 
ing  half  of  Europe  under  his  feet,  Napoleon 
was  still  unsatisfied,  and  in  his  ambitions  to  con 
quer  the  world  he  lost  all  and  was  banished 
to  St.  Helena,  a  broken-hearted  man.  When 
Alexander  had  conquered  the  known  world,  he 


62      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

was  not  satisfied,  but  wept  because  there  were 
no  more  worlds  to  conquer.  Cyrus,  the  con 
queror,  wrote  this  pathetic  epitaph  for  his  mon 
ument:  "  I  am  Cyrus.  I  occupied  the  Persian 
empire.  I  was  king  over  Asia.  Begrudge  me 
not  this  monument}." 

Learning  cannot  satisfy  the  soul.  When 
Archimedes  discovered  the  mode  of  determining 
the  relative  quantities  of  gold  and  silver  in 
Hiero's  crown,  through  sheer  ecstasy  he  leaped 
from  the  bath  and  ran  naked  through  the  streets 
of  Syracuse,  shouting,  "I  have  found  it !  "  But 
this  ecstasy  soon  died  away  and  he  pressed  for 
ward  in  search  of  new  truth.  Newton  said: 
"  I  feel  like  a  little  child  amusing  itself,  finding 
here  a  smooth  pebble  and  there  a  brilliant  shell, 
while  the  great  ocean  of  truth  lies  unexplored 
before  me."  Why  is  it  the  world  cannot  quench 
the  thirst  of  man  or  satisfy  his  restless  spirit? 
Is  it  not  that  man  was  made  for  that  which  the 
world  cannot  give  ?  St.  Augustine  says  :  "  The 
soul  of  man  was  made  for  God,  therefore  it  can 
never  rest  until  it  rests  in  Him  alone." 

This  is  the  chief  dignity  of  man,  that  none 
or  all  of  the  things  which  pass  away  with  the 
tide  of  years  can  really  satisfy  him.  The  soul 
is  godlike,  therefore  its  thirst  can  only  be 
quenched  in  the  springs  of  eternity.  The  im 
mortality  of  the  soul  is  not  a  wild  dream  nor  yet 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      63 

a  cunningly  devised  fable.  It  is  really  the  only 
substantial  thing  in  life  or  death.  Art  perishes, 
architecture  crumbles  away,  literature  is  muta 
ble,  knowledge  shall  vanish  away,  the  treasures 
of  earth  are  corrupted  by  moth  and  rust;  the 
soul  alone  lives  throughout  the  cycles  of  time. 

"  The  soul.,  secure  in  her  existence,  smiles 

At  the  drawn  dagger  and  defies  its  pain. 

The  stars  may  fade  away,  the  sun  himself 

Grow  dim  with  age,  and  nature  sink  in  years; 

But  she  shall  flourish  in  immortal  youth, 

Unhurt  amid  the  war  of  elements, 

The  wreck  of  matter,  and  the  crash  of  worlds." 

Were  there  no  immortality  of  the  soul,  life 
would  indeed  be  full  of  inequalities,  of  meaning 
less  dreams,  of  hopeless  ideals,  and  of  a  certain 
harshness  of  divine  government,  which  would 
prove  fearfully  discouraging  to  human  effort, 
to  high  hoping,  to  beautiful  dreaming,  and  to 
the  ceaseless  following  of  a  high  ideal  "  in  spite 
of  the  stare  of  the  wise  and  the  world's  derision." 
To  man,  with  his  broken  dreams  and  unrealized 
ideals,  the  thought  of  heaven  as  a  realization 
of  his  ideals  and  a  consummation  of  his  dreams 
is  a  splendid  conception  and  a  rare  inspiration. 
All  that  we  dreamed  of  being  here,  but  could 
not  be  because  of  the  "  twist  and  cross  "  of 
things,  we  shall  be  in  the  ageless  life ;  all  of  the 
rare  deeds  of  love  that  we  would  do  here,  but 


64      «  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

could  not  quite  accomplish  because  of  the  myriad 
quenching  voices  of  the  world,  we  shall  do  on 
the  other  side  —  this  is  a  thought  to  call  forth 
the  very  best  and  biggest  in  us.  Even  after 
we  have  wrought  well  here,  and  toiled  as  men 
fashioned  after  God's  likeness,  and  done  many 
fine  things  in  life's  great  workshop,  still  our 
lives  are  wofully  incomplete  and  hopelessly  im 
perfect  —  in  spite  of  the  doctrines  of  extreme 
holiness.  Shall  we  not  have  another  chance  un 
der  more  auspicious  circumstances?  I  do  not 
mean  a  chance  to  repent  of  our  sins  and  thereby 
escape  hell,  but  a  place  where  the  soul  shall 
speak  in  its  own  language  and  have  full  play  to 
enlarge  her  borders  by  a  frictionless  fellowship 
with  the  Over-soul.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  said : 

"  I  am  like  a  man  that  takes  the  first  canvas 
to  paint  a  picture.  He  does  not  know  what  he 
will  do.  He  lays  in  forms  in  all  sorts  of  ways 
without  coming  to  any  satisfactory  result.  At  last 
he  says,  '  I  cannot  make  anything  of  that  picture, 
but  I  have  a  conception.  Bring  me  a  fresh  can 
vas,  and  I  will  try  again,  when  I  think  I  shall 
have  better  success.'  I  have  long  been  trying  to 
paint  true  life,  and  have  only  partially  succeeded; 
but  if  God  will  give  me  another  canvas  I  think  I 
can  paint  better,  and  He  will." 

Said  Victor  Hugo,  the  author  of  one  of  the 
greatest  novels  ever  written: 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      65 

"  For  half  a  century  I  have  been  writing  my 
thoughts  in  prose,  verse,  history,  philosophy, 
drama,  romance,  tradition,  satire,  ode,  song  —  I 
have  tried  all.  But  I  feel  that  I  have  not  said 
the  thousandth  part  of  what  is  in  me.  When  I 
go  down  to  the  grave,  I  can  say,  like  so  many 
others,  '  I  have  finished  my  day's  work ;  '  I  cannot 
say,  '  I  have  finished  my  life.'  My  day's  work 
will  begin  the  next  morning.  The  tomb  is  not 
a  blind  alley,  it  is  a  thoroughfare.  It  closes  in 
the  twilight  to  open  with  the  dawn.  My  work 
is  only  beginning.  My  monument  is  hardly  above 
its  foundation.  I  would  be  glad  to  see  it  mount 
ing  and  mounting  forever.  The  thirst  for  the  in 
finite  proves  infinity." 

Browning's  "  Andrea  del  Sarto,"  the  flaw 
less  painter,  who  had  failed  here  for  lack  of 
soul-power,  asked  for  one  more  chance  to  try 
his  brush  under  new  conditions  upon  one  of  the 
four  walls  of  the  New  Jerusalem.  Who  shall 
say  it  was  not  a  splendid  request?  That  very 
request  proved  that  he  had  soul-power,  even 
though  he  could  not  quite  reach  the  goal  here. 

But  the  man  who  has  risen  with  Christ  from 
the  old  life  into  the  new  does  not  need  these  or 
any  other  proof  of  ageless  life.  Why?  Be 
cause  he  knows  and  he  knows  that  he  knows.  A 
child  wraps  its  arms  about  its  mother's  neck  and 
says,  "  Mamma,  I  love  you."  Philosophers 
and  scientists  and  cynics  and  rationalists  might 


66      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

argue  until  they  were  green  in  the  face,  but  they 
could  never  persuade  that  mother  that  she  did 
not  love  the  little  child.  How  does  she  know? 
She  knows  that  she  knows.  That  were  an  idle 
question.  Likewise,  the  man  who  has  been  born 
into  the  wondrous  life  of  the  soul  through  the 
mystic  power  of  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
knows  that  he  knows.  The  Christian  knows  that 
this  corruptible  must  put  on  incorruption  and 
this  mortal  must  put  on  immortality. 


XIV 
EASTLAKE  PARK 

Eastlake  Park  appeals  to  me  peculiarly.  In 
many  respects  it  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
things  in  the  city  of  Los  Angeles,  but  it  is  a 
beauty  that  appeals  to  the  inner  eye.  I  love  to 
go  there  just  before  sunset  and  stay  until  the 
stars  come  out.  This  is  the  best  time  because 
at  that  hour  there  are  very  few  people  around 
and,  again,  because  a  soft  stillness  is  in  the  air, 
a  blessed  calm  pervades  all  things,  the  world 
around  is  hushed  into  silence,  and  the  garment 
of  peace  is  wrapped  about  the  form  of  things. 
As  I  sit  by  the  lake  my  heart  is  strangely 
warmed  by  a  mystical  sense  of  the  beautiful  bond 
that  connects  all  created  things  into  a  certain 
oneness  of  fellowship,  made  fast  by  the  golden 
chain  of  divine  love  and  Fatherhood.  In  front 
is  the  beautiful  lake,  calm  and  peaceful,  save 
now  and  then  a  ripple  created  by  the  noiseless 
swimming  of  a  stately  swan.  Upon  the  lake 
is  reflected  in  brilliant  colors  the  golden  glory 
of  the  setting  sun.  In  the  distance  are  the  "  ev 
erlasting  hills  "  silhouetted  against  the  evening 
67 


68      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

sky.  On  either  side  and  to  the  rear  are  luxu 
riant  trees  and  shrubbery  and  a  profusion  of 
exquisite  flowers.  After  a  while  the  stars  come 
out,  one  by  one,  silent  messengers  from  God  to 
the  children  of  men.  A  swan  swims  out  of  a 
rather  muddy,  isolated  side  issue  of  a  lake  with 
its  milk  white  feathers  somewhat  soiled  by  the 
mud,  but  when  it  reaches  the  main  body  of 
water  its  feathers  are  once  more  spotless,  and 
with  stately  bearing  it  swims  out  upon  the  lake 
and  on  into  the  gathering  darkness.  As  it 
passes  out  of  sight  the  thought  comes  to  me  that 
though  we  get  our  garments  soiled  in  the  mud 
and  scum  of  life's  inland  sea,  at  eventide  when 
we  launch  out  upon  the  boundless  ocean  of  eter 
nity  our  garments  shall  once  more  become  spot 
less.  From  this  entrancing  experience  I  come 
back  to  the  din  and  the  noise  and  the  glare  and 
the  glitter  of  the  city,  with  its  vast  throng  of 
hurrying,  rushing,  sinning,  and  soiled  men  and 
women,  and  while  it  is  almost  like  coming  down 
from  a  transfiguration  mountain  experience  into 
the  valley  below,  still  I  realize  that  there  is  a 
value  attached  to  men  and  women  in  sin  and 
soil  transcendently  greater  than  that  of  the 
combined  brotherhood  of  lake  and  swan  and  tree, 
starshine  and  sunset  and  mountain  glory,  be 
cause  of  the  divine  superscription  written  immor 
tally  upon  the  soul  of  man. 


XV 

THE  IDEALIST 

Emerson  hitched  his  wagon  to  a  star.  He 
was  a  man  of  ideals  —  and  he  was  a  man  of 
action.  Before  Shakespeare  could  write  his 
plays,  which  are  among  the  marvels  of  the  world, 
he  must  needs  allow  his  immortal  characters  to 
flit  through  his  imagination.  Milton  dreamed 
of  "  Paradise  Lost  "  before  the  world  read  it  in 
wonder  and  amazement.  Dante  was  in  hell  be 
fore  the  "  Inferno  "  broke  upon  the  world  with 
such  colossal  effect.  No  supremely  great  man 
reaches  the  heights  before  he  has  dreamed  of 
them.  We  are  no  greater  than  our  ideals,  and 
generally  not  as  great.  "  A  man's  reach  should 
exceed  his  grasp."  Ideals  are  distant  objects, 
far-off  points,  cloud-wrapped  realities.  Like  a 
mirage,  they  vanish  as  we  approach  them,  and 
reform  farther  in  the  distance.  We  should  not 
attain  unto  our  ultimate  ideal.  There  would  be 
no  more  worlds  to  conquer.  We  would  rust  un- 
burnished,  lapse  into  lethargy,  stagnate.  Hope 
springs  eternal  in  the  human  breast.  Our  ideals 

continually  elude  our  grasp,  but  to-morrow  we 
69 


70       <  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

are  sure  of  reaching  the  goal.  But  suppose  we 
never  reach  the  mark,  suppose  the  golden  dream 
never  comes  true,  what  then?  Are  we  not 
stronger,  wiser,  better  for  having  dreamed  and 
reached  and  followed  the  white  ideal?  The  prize 
of  life  is  often  in  the  race,  not  the  goal.  Our 
realized  ideals  are  not  so  sweet  to  us  as  the  new- 
formed  unattained  ideals.  The  little  child 
dreams  of  the  time  when  he  will  be  able  to  climb 
up  on  a  table ;  then  to  ride  a  pony ;  then  to  shoot 
a  gun ;  then  to  be  a  man  and  wear  long  pants ; 
then  to  sprout  a  mustache ;  then  to  play  the  man 
in  the  world's  work.  And  so  it  goes  —  from  age 
to  age  we  are  fired  with  new  ambitions,  filled  with 
new  ideals,  rising  and  falling  and  falling  and 
rising,  until  finally  nothing  that  this  world  holds 
will  satisfy  us ;  with  St.  Augustine,  we  would 
rest  in  God. 

The  value  of  an  ideal  is  in  its  inspirational 
effect.  We  are  swayed  by  our  ideals.  A  con 
scientious  man  makes  a  desperate  effort  to  live 
up  to  his  ideals.  A  man  of  low  ideals  is  a  man 
of  poor  character.  This  is  a  logical  conclusion, 
for  as  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart  so  is  he.  Out 
of  the  heart  are  the  issues  of  life.  The  dreamers 
of  the  world  have  been  the  world's  favored  chil 
dren  —  Joseph,  Moses,  David,  St.  John,  Paul, 
Francis  Xavier,  Milton,  Browning,  and  a  thou 
sand  others.  The  world  holds  nearest  to  its 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      71 

heart  the  idealists  of  the  world.  It  reserves  the 
privilege  of  ridiculing  them  at  times  and  at 
other  times  allowing  them  to  live  in  a  garret  and 
almost  beg  for  a  living;  nevertheless  she  loves 
them  more  than  she  loves  her  so-called  practical 
men.  But  we  should  draw  a  sharp  distinction 
between  idealists  proper  and  practical  men 
proper.  The  greatest  dreamers  are  they  who 
do  most  of  the  world's  work.  They  are  seers. 
They  catch  visions.  They  dream  dreams. 
They  look  years  and  even  centuries  ahead.  And 
they  do  not  stop  here.  They  clinch  their 
dreams.  They  execute  their  plans.  They  ren 
der  to  the  world  a  man's  work  well  done. 
This  is  the  type  of  idealist  which  is  engag 
ing  my  attention,  and  not  the  impractical  vi 
sionary  and  the  ineffectual  sky  gazers.  They 
are  abnormalities  in  the  eternal  fitness  of  things. 
They  are  to  be  pitied;  not  admired  and  not 
canonized.  Now,  the  intensely  practical  man, 
the  man  who  prides  himself  on  never  dreaming 
a  dream,  never  catching  the  outlines  of  a  great 
vision,  never  indulging  in  a  single  lofty  ideal, 
this  man  presents  himself  as  one  who  sleeps. 
He  sees  about  one  inch  beyond  his  nose,  pro 
vided  his  is  a  short  nose.  He  is  wrapped 
up  in  realities.  He  never  sees  beyond  the  visi 
ble  ;  he  never  hears  beyond  the  audible ;  he  never 
reaches  beyond  the  tangible.  He  lauds  to  the 


72      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

sky  such  practical  men  as  Harriman,  Morgan, 
etc.,  and  regards  with  withering  contempt  such 
dreamers  as  Livingstone,  Luther,  and  Savona 
rola,  forgetting  that  all  great  achievements  grow 
out  of  ideals  and  visions.  The  great  captains 
of  industry  are  dreamers  before  they  are  "  prac 
tical  men."  Some  men  use  their  powers  and 
their  ideals  to  amass  fortunes ;  some  to  conquer 
worlds ;  some  to  write  books ;  and  some  to  help 
the  Master  of  men  save  the  world  by  placing 
their  lives  at  His  disposal.  But  the  root  idea  is 
the  same.  All  are  idealists.  The  difference  is  in 
the  manifestation,  in  the  expression  of  the  ideal. 
I  want  to  say  in  this  connection  that  the  typical 
visionary  and  the  typical  practical  man  are 
both  failures.  The  world's  heroes  are  men  who 
dream  dreams  and  see  visions,  and  then  bend 
their  selfish  ambitions  into  an  expression  of 
their  best  selves  for  the  good  of  men  and  for  the 
glory  of  God.  Then  failure  may  mean  largest 
success,  even  as  success  in  some  men  may  mean 
failure.  Sometimes  a  man  must  face  certain 
defeat  and  failure  in  order  to  be  true  to  the 
highest  ideals.  The  world's  greatest  men  and 
women  have  walked  the  via  dolorosa.  The  way 
of  the  idealist  is  hard.  But  out  of  defeat  and 
disappointment  and  shattered  hopes  and  broken 
dreams  may  grow  largest  success,  richest  at 
tainment,  beautiful  character,  and  eternal  gain. 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      73 

My  thoughts  are  traveling  toward  the  land  that 
is  called  Holy  and  the  Man  of  Galilee  — 
the  most  marvelous  dreamer  the  world  has  ever 
known  and  yet  the  most  practical  man  the  world 
has  ever  loved.  The  world  lay  before  Him. 
He  enjoyed  all  power  on  earth  and  in  heaven. 
Men  wanted  Him  for  their  king.  How  easy 
for  Him  to  unite  the  whole  world  and  establish 
a  harmonious,  homogeneous  empire  of  righteous 
ness  !  It  seemed  reasonable,  good,  natural.  But 
He  turned  His  back  upon  it  all.  He  set  His 
face  toward  defeat,  toward  humiliation,  toward 
the  cross,  toward  apparent  loss  and  oblivion. 
His  dreams  seemed  mockeries  to  His  followers; 
His  ideals  ironies.  They  had  hoped  that  He 
would  deliver  Israel,  but  it  seemed  as  if  it  was 
only  a  dream,  a  dream  too  bright  to  last.  And 
this  dreamer  had  said  that  He  would  draw  all 
men  unto  Him,  that  He  would  found  a  kingdom 
greater  than  that  of  Charlemagne  or  Napoleon 
or  Alexander  because  their  kingdoms  were 
founded  on  force,  while  His  would  be  founded 
on  love.  Small  wonder  that  the  cynics  laughed, 
the  heathen  raged,  the  hypocrites  rejoiced,  the 
scorners  mocked.  Small  wonder  that  His  fol 
lowers  grew  faint  and  lost  hope  and  lapsed  back 
into  somewhat  of  their  old  life.  But  the  dreamer 
rose  and  walked  the  earth  and  ascended  into 
heaven  —  and  to-day  the  nations  of  the  earth 


74      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  » 

worship  Him,  and  the  islands  of  the  sea  rever 
ence  Him,  and  the  kings  of  men  call  Him  Lord. 
This  world  dreamer  is  world  victor.  In  lesser 
degree,  according  to  our  talents,  we  shall  con 
quer  the  world  by  dreaming  beautiful  dreams, 
by  catching  splendid  visions,  by  cultivating  lofty 
ideals,  and  by  doing  our  utmost  best  to  project 
into  practical  fashion  these  intangible,  invisible 
children  of  the  spirit. 


XVI 
OUR  PRIVILEGE 

We  cannot  always  hear  the  bells  of  Easter 
morn  or  walk  the  shining  heights  of  glorified 
manhood;  we  cannot  always  touch  the  seamless 
robe  of  Christ  or  think  the  thoughts  of  God; 
we  cannot  always  do  the  Master's  bidding  in  the 
hard  school  of  life  or  find  the  altar  stairs  which 
slope  through  darkness  up  to  God.  But  we 
can  always  strive  to  listen  amid  the  din  and  the 
noise  of  life  for  the  still,  small  voice  of  God; 
we  can  always  throw  our  lives  in  childlike  trust 
upon  the  bosom  of  God  and  lean  on  Him  for  re 
sults  ;  we  can  always  make  some  high  effort  to 
touch  at  least  a  few  hearts  to  finer  issues  and 
move  a  few  souls  to  loftier  purposes;  we  can 
always  follow  the  Master  of  men,  even  though 
sometimes  our  vision  is  dim  and  our  step  is 
faltering,  and  even  though  it  seems  at  times 
that  He  is  leading  us  out  into  the  night ;  we  can 
always  hide  ourselves  beneath  the  shadow  of 
His  wing  when  the  storms  of  life  beat  upon  us 
and  the  tides  of  life  sweep  us  from  our  mooring. 


XVII 
BOATS 

As  far  back  as  I  can  remember  I  have  been 
interested  in  boats.  The  toy  boat  engaged  my 
most  youthful  attention,  but  since  then  other  and 
larger  boats  and  ships  have  made  their  appeal 
—  and  I  never  grow  tired  of  a  boat  of  any  de 
scription.  I  have  extracted  peculiar  pleasure 
from  observing  toy  boats,  fishing  smacks,  sail 
boats,  ocean  liners,  and  battle-ships  —  and  my 
interest  in  submarines  and  airships  is  strong. 
These  boats  appeal  to  me  as  boats  —  and  again 
as  symbols  or  ideals,  parables  or  allegories. 
Somehow  they  are  representative,  or  at  least 
very  suggestive,  of  the  Christian  life  of  various 
types  of  people. 

1.  The  toy-boat  Christian  is  that  individual 
whom  the  devil  can  treat  as  a  toy  and  lead 
around  with  a  string,  even  as  a  small  boy  pulls 
his  little  boat  on  a  pond  with  a  string  attached. 
It  is  strange  and  sad  to  observe  that  this  class 
of  Christians  exists  even  among  preachers,  who 
allow  themselves  to  be  treated  as  toys  and  led 
about  by  popular  applause,  fame,  money,  fear 
of  sacrificing  their  Conference  record  by 

preaching  the  truth  to  a  few  godless  but  power- 
76 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  »      77 

ful  members  of  their  churches,  an  unholy  ambi 
tion.  In  Sam  Jones's  picturesque  phraseology 
this  class  of  apparently  well-meaning  folks 
won't  be  in  hell  ten  minutes  before  the  devil 
will  have  them  bridled  and  saddled  and  riding 
them  all  over  hell. 

2.  Fishing   smacks   are  little  boats  used  by 
fishermen  on  the  coast.     They  are  shallow-water 
boats,  boats  afraid  to  go  out  too  far  lest  a  squall 
come    upon    them    suddenly    and    upset    them. 
When  they  see  a  squall  coming  they  pull  for 
the   shore.     The   churches   are   full  of  fishing- 
smack  Christians.      They  refuse  to  venture  out 
upon  God's  great  ocean,  preferring  to  remain 
in  sight  of  the  shore  for  fear  they  may  per 
chance   encounter  a   storm   or  a   little  danger. 
They  miss  the  best  and  the  biggest  in  life  be 
cause   they   do   not   launch   out   into   the   deep. 
They  forget  that  he  who  dares  most  for  God 
gains  most.     He  that  loseth  his  life  on  God's 
ocean  shall  find   a  larger  life  in  God's  haven 
of  rest.     A  shallow-water,   shore-boat,  fishing- 
smack  Christian  will  never  do  much  in  the  way 
of  advancement  and  growth. 

3.  Where    is    the    man,    and    especially    the 
preacher,  who  has  not  seen  sail-boat  Christians? 
The  sail-boat  is  dependent  upon  winds,  affected 
vitally  by  storms,  and  subject  to  external  con 
ditions   and   circumstances.     If  the  weather  is 


78       <  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

good  and  the  sky  is  clear,  the  boat  moves  with 
perfect  ease  and  a  degree  of  velocity,  but  not 
so  when  the  wind  changes  and  things  go  wrong. 
Some  Christians  are  mightily  affected  by  the 
wind.  Their  religion  on  Monday  is  not  quite 
up  to  the  standard  of  Sunday  because  the  wind 
has  changed.  They  failed  to  get  the  office  they 
craved,  or  a  place  on  some  committee,  or  per 
chance  their  "  ideas  "  were  not  followed  in  the 
quarterly  conference  —  and  straightway  the 
wind  changes.  An  east  wind  springs  up. 
Their  sail-boat  stands  still  on  the  waters. 
They  no  longer  see  their  way  clear  to  run  on 
schedule  time  —  at  least  until  the  pastor 
changes  the  wind.  Then  again  storms  have  a 
way  of  beating  against  us  in  this  old  world 
which  is  so  rough  and  so  gentle,  so  ugly  and  so 
beautiful,  so  false  and  so  true,  so  mean  and  so 
good.  There  are  storms  of  adversity  and  de 
feat  and  sorrow  and  disappointment.  Sail 
boats  are  affected  by  storms.  Like  sail-boats, 
so  many  people  are  seemingly  good  Christians 
as  long  as  the  sun  is  shining  and  the  sky  is  clear 
and  no  adversity  has  befallen  them,  but  when 
they  are  beat  upon  and  buffeted  by  a  strong 
wind  of  defeat  or  struck  by  some  mighty  storm 
of  sorrow,  they  are  swept  far  out  of  their  course 
and  sometimes  even  wrecked  upon  the  great 
ocean  of  life.  Like  the  wife  of  Job,  some  very 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      79 

good  Christians  are  ready  to  curse  God  and  die 
when  they  experience  a  great  sorrow  or  disap 
pointment.  Our  religion  is  not  real  and  strong 
and  abiding  until  we  are  ready  to  know  Christ 
in  the  fellowship  of  His  suffering  as  well  as  in 
the  power  of  His  resurrection. 

4.  Ocean   liners    are    exceedingly    interesting 
boats,  because  they  confidently  move  out  upon 
the  ocean  for  a  definite,  distant  point  regardless 
of  wind   or  wave,    and  go   to  that  point,   and 
again  because  the  propelling  power  of  the  ship 
is  out  of  sight.      The  ocean  liner  is  not  buffeted 
by  winds  or  affected  by  ordinary  storms.      She 
sails  on,  because  of  the  power  that  drives  her. 
It  is  passing  pleasant  to  remark  the  large  num 
ber  of  ocean  liners  in  the  Church  of  God.     They 
are  steadfast,  unmovable,  unaffected  by  winds 
of    afflictions    and    waves    of    criticism.      They 
move  toward  something  definite,  and  they  attain. 
And  the  secret  of  it  all  is  the  fact  that  their 
lives   are   impelled   by   unseen   forces  —  it   is    a 
question    of    the    propulsive    power    of    divine 
dynamics.     After  all,  the  unseen  forces  are  the 
real   forces    of  life  —  the   great   lakes   back   of 
Niagara,  the  power  house  back  of  the  street  car, 
the  hand  of  God  back  of  the  lives  of  men.     It 
is   this   which   counts    for  most   in   our   voyage 
over  the  chartless  ocean  of  life. 

5.  Battle-ships    are    often   more   picturesque 


80       "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

than  useful,  but  the  ideal  battle-ship  lives  a 
militant  life  and  fights  the  battles  of  its  coun 
try.  The  Church  needs  more  battle-ships. 
The  choir  in  the  city  churches,  according  to 
Billy  Sunday,  is  the  war  department  of  the 
Church.  But  it  is  not  that  idea  which  is  meant 
to  be  conveyed  when  we  speak  of  battle-ship 
Christians.  It  is  fighting  God's  battles,  fight 
ing  the  devil  in  high  places  and  around  the 
corner,  fighting  sin  and  not  sinners.  It  is  the 
Christian  who  puts  on  the  whole  armor  of  God 
and  with  the  Son  of  God  goes  forth  to  war  for 
God  and  for  good.  It  is  the  man  who  is  not 
afraid  to  stand  by  and  with  the  right  for  Christ's 
and  conscience's  sake  even  though,  like  Atha- 
nasius  of  old,  he  stand  alone  against  the  world. 
The  Church  of  God  is  an  army  and  it  should  be 
a  militant  army  whose  ideal  and  work  is  to 
usher  in  the  kingdom  and  reign  of  the  Prince 
of  Peace.  A  namby-pamby,  wishy-washy,  weak- 
kneed,  half-hearted  Christian  cannot  hasten  the 
reign  of  righteousness  on  earth. 

6.  Submarine  boats  are  quite  suggestive. 
They  have  a  way  of  going  down  beneath  the 
surface  and  sounding  the  deeps.  A  surface 
Christian  is  of  necessity  shallow,  lacking  in 
great  passions,  and  given  to  instability  and  in 
consistencies.  The  deeps  of  life  are  the  sources 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      81 

and  forces  of  life.  So  many  of  us  are  not  will 
ing  to  get  down  beneath  the  surface  —  in 
thought,  in  emotions,  in  experience,  etc.  It 
costs  something.  We  pray  for  an  outpouring 
of  God's  Spirit  in  revivals  and  a  baptism  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  but  we  are  not  willing  to  pay  the 
price.  Privilege  means  projection.  Power 
means  responsibility.  Talent  means  service. 
God  is  wiser  than  men.  He  selects  for  divine 
baptisms  men  and  women  who  are  ready  to  go 
with  Him  down,  down,  down,  until  the  nether 
springs  of  life  are  reached,  until  we  stand  upon 
the  foundations  of  God.  Then  and  only  then 
are  we  in  position  to  rise  with  Him  as  high  as 
the  stars.  The  world  needs  more  submarine- 
boat  Christians. 

7.  This  is  a  day  of  airships.  Man's  skill  and 
daring  have  invaded  the  regions  above  the  earth. 
The  airship  idea  is  a  beautiful  conception. 
The  ethereal  is  ever  winsome  in  its  appeal.  The 
skies  make  us  look  up,  and  by  looking  up  we 
sometimes  see  a  hill  or  a  star,  whence  come  our 
help  and  inspiration.  The  airship  is  a  scorner 
of  the  ground.  It  rises  above  the  earth.  It 
loses  itself  in  the  sky.  The  airship  Christians 
are  tall  among  the  sons  and  daughters  of  men. 
We  must  stand  on  the  heights  at  blessed  inter 
vals  if  we  would  enrich  the  valleys  and  plains 


82       <  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

with  the  benediction  of  our  lives.  There  are  no 
fogs  nor  mists  up  there,  and  the  sky  is  clear. 
From  the  heights  we  catch  outlines  of  the  vision 
of  God.  From  the  heights  we  hear  the  rustling 
of  angel  wings.  From  the  heights  we  breathe 
the  breath  of  God.  People  are  prone  to  live 
too  much  on  the  earth.  We  are  citizens  of  two 
worlds.  Our  lives  are  dual.  We  fail  too  often 
to  nourish  our  souls,  while  we  feed  fat  our  bodies 
and  train  our  minds.  Materialism  with  its 
blighting,  dampening,  binding  influences  has 
gripped  our  country  and  our  age.  Where 
there  is  no  vision  the  people  perish.  We  must 
leave  the  ground,  the  earth,  the  sordid,  the  ma 
terial,  at  intervals,  and  stand  with  God  on  some 
tall  Transfiguration  mountain,  and  hold  high 
fellowship  with  Christ,  and  lose  our  lower  lives 
in  the  higher  life,  and  let  the  Son  of  God  invest 
us  with  divine  dignity,  clothe  us  with  celestial 
raiment,  write  upon  our  hearts  and  faces  new 
messages,  and  breathe  into  our  souls  the  breath 
of  new  life.  Airship  Christians  get  so  much 
more  out  of  life  —  and  they  give  so  much  more 
to  life.  This  does  not  mean  that  we  must  be 
come  hopeless  dreamers,  impractical  visionaries, 
and  star-gazing  idealists.  The  second  state  of 
the  man  would  be  worse  than  the  first.  But 
even  a  fish  has  to  rise  to  the  surface  at  intervals 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      83 

to  catch  a  whiff  of  air  —  and  how  much  more 
is  a  man  than  a  fish!  I  am  thinking  that  the 
soul  would  utterly  perish  did  it  not  rise  from  the 
ground  ever  and  anon  and  catch  a  whiff  or  so 
of  celestial  air. 


XVIII 

JOHN  KEATS,  THE  APOSTLE  OF 
BEAUTY 

Byron,  Shelley,  and  Keats  are  linked  together 
in  the  golden  chain  of  English  poets  stretching 
from  Chaucer  to  Kipling.  All  died  young. 
All  wrote  with  passion  and  power  and  rare 
beauty.  There  was  a  note  of  sadness  and  soli 
tude  in  the  life  of  each.  But  here  the  com 
parison  ends,  for  Byron  and  Shelley  were 
revolutionists,  looking  into  the  dim-lit  future  for 
a  better  social  state,  while  Keats  caught  splen 
did  visions  of  the  past  and  was  satisfied  to  revel 
in  a  certain  sheer  poetic  phrensy  of  delight. 
In  "  Sleep  and  Poetry  "  he  exclaims : 

"  O  for  ten  years,  that  I  may  overwhelm 
Myself  in  poesy!     So  I  may  do  the  deed 
That  my  own  soul  has  to  itself  decreed." 

Then  Byron  and  Shelley  were  aristocratically 
descended,  while  Keats  was  of  humble  origin, 
his  father  being  a  livery  stable  keeper.  Limited 
in  birth,  limited  in  education,  limited  in  health, 
limited  in  friends,  limited  in  number  and  vari 
ety  of  poems,  dying  at  twenty-five,  he  felt  that 

his  life  was  a  failure,  his  work  not  worth  while. 
84 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      85 

He  desired  that  the  following  line  should  be  en 
graved  upon  the  stone  erected  to  mark  his  rest 
ing  place : 

"  Here  lies  one  whose  name  was  writ  in  water." 

But  the  world  has  not  accepted  this  verdict. 
On  the  contrary,  Keats  stands  today  in  the 
foremost  ranks  of  English  poets,  and  the  heart 
of  the  English-speaking  race  is  strangely,  ten 
derly,  abidingly  drawn  to  him.  This  meed  of 
praise  and  tender  love  for  Keats  has  grown  out 
of  the  fact  that  he  fought  so  finely  against  cer 
tain  defeat,  that  he  rose  so  handsomely  above 
adverse  conditions,  that  his  death  was  so  un 
timely,  so  tragic,  such  a  loss,  such  a  loss,  to  the 
world  of  poetry.  But  aside  from  this,  Keats 
wrote  in  small  compass  some  of  the  rarest,  rich 
est,  most  beautiful  poetry  that  England  ever 
produced.  Much  of  his  work  was  well-nigh 
faultless  and  perfect,  and  for  sheer  beauty  of 
verse  he  has  not  been  surpassed.  Beauty  with 
Keats  was  a  passion,  the  ruling  passion  of  his 
life.  He  held  that 

"A  thing  of  beauty  is  a  joy  forever." 

According  to  his  somewhat  narrow  philosophy  of 
life,  "  Beauty  is  truth,  truth,  beauty  —  that  is 
all  ye  know  on  earth,  and  all  ye  need  to  know." 


86       "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

Being  possessed  with  such  a  passion  for  the 
beautiful,  naturally  his  poetry  is  shot  through 
with  the  element  of  beauty,  so  much  so  that, 
like  Lanier,  his  poetry  sometimes  cloys  with  sheer 
beauty. 

At  sixteen  Keats  read  "  The  Faerie  Queen," 
and  straightway  a  poet  was  born  to  the  world. 
In  the  golden  lines  of  Spenser's  beautiful  poem, 
he  caught  the  outlines  of  a  vision  of  his  own 
poetry.  When  he  read  Chapman's  "  Trans 
lation  of  Homer,"  he  was  lost  even  as  in  a  deli 
cious  dream,  and  he  was  fairly  swept  off  his  feet 
by  the  tides  of  a  new  music,  a  melodious  force, 
that  had  never  before  touched  his  life.  We, 
in  our  lesser  passion  for  poetry  and  beauty  and 
music,  can  form  no  adequate  conception  of  this 
mystic  influence  upon  Keats.  He  records  his 
feelings  in  a  magnificent  sonnet : 

"  Then  felt  I  like  some  watcher  of  the  skies 
When  a  new  planet  swims  into  his  ken; 
Or  like  stout  Cortez  when  with  eagle  eyes 
He  star'd  at  the  Pacific  —  and  all  his  men 
Looked  at  each  other  with  a  wild  surmise  — 
Silent,  upon  a  peak  in  Darien." 

Keats  wrote  four  exquisite  odes  unsurpassed  for 
sheer  beauty,  marvelous  melody,  rich  music,  and 
noble  expression  in  the  whole  vast  sweep  of  the 
entrancing  realm  of  poetry,  viz :  To  a  Nightin- 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      87 

gale;  On  a  Grecian  Urn;  To  Psyche;  On  Melan 
choly. 

I  wish  space  would  permit  an  extended  quota 
tion  from  each,  but  this  being  out  of  the  ques 
tion,  we  shall  quote  the  seventh  stanza  of  the 
"  Ode  to  a  Nightingale  " :  , 

"  Thou  wast  not  born  for  death,  immortal  Bird ! 
No  hungry  generations  tread  thee  down; 
The  voice  I  hear  this  passing  night  was  heard 
In  ancient  days  by  emperor  and  clown: 
Perhaps  the  self-same  song  that  found  a  path 
Through   the   sad   heart   of   Ruth,   when,   sick   for 

home, 

She  stood  in  tears  amid  the  alien  corn; 
The  same  that  oft  times  hath 
Charmed  magic  casements,  opening  on  the  foam 
Of  perilous  seas,  in  faery  lands  forlorn." 

We  have  already  alluded  to  the  death  of 
Keats  at  twenty-five,  which  was  full  of  high 
tragedy,  pathos,  and  untimeliness.  He  was 
just  coming  into  his  full-orbed  birthright  as  a 
great  poet.  Considering  his  age,  opportunities, 
environment,  and  the  excellency  of  his  poetry, 
his  accomplishment  was  as  great,  if  not  greater, 
than  any  other  English  poet.  We  can  only 
conjecture,  with  infinite  regret,  what  exalted 
place  would  have  been  his  in  the  high  places  of 
song.  We  know  he  felt  the  divine  movement 


88      "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

and  melodies  of  unsung  songs  crying  passion 
ately  for  utterance  in  his  high  soul,  but  because 
of  his  fragile  body  and  early  death  these  chil 
dren  of  his  soul  were  never  born  in  this  world 
—  and  we  know  how  great  the  loss  is  to  the 
world.  But  in  our  larger,  rarer  faith  do  we 
believe  that  those  high  dreams  of  unsung  songs 
were  wasted  upon  "  the  naked  shingles  of  the 
world  "  ?  Do  we  believe  that  his  work  ended  at 
twenty-five,  with  all  his  matchless  talents  and 
possibilities  buried  in  oblivion?  Surely  our 
faith  rises  higher  than  this.  It  teaches  us  that 
the  music  that  Beethoven  composed,  which  no 
earthly  instrument  could  play,  will  not  be  lost 
in  the  divine  economy  of  the  universe,  and  we 
believe  he  will  be  accorded  the  privilege  of  hear 
ing  the  music  of  his  soul  on  heavenly  harps  in 
the  city  not  made  with  hands.  God  is  good, 
and  God  is  just,  and  God  is  all  powerful.  And 
God  never  suffers  a  talent  to  atrophy,  if  we  do 
our  part.  Why  could  not,  why  should  not,  the 
great  Rewarder  of  men  bid  some  tall  angel 
stretch  a  canvas  on  the  walls  of  the  New  Jeru 
salem  for  Andrea  del  Sarto  to  paint  the  things 
that  he  could  not  quite  attain  unto  here  on  ac 
count  of  the  tangled  skein  of  the  world  and  the 
flesh?  Is  not  the  far  country  across  the  mystic 
river,  of  which  we  dream  and  preach,  and  for 
which  we  yearn  quenchlessly,  measureless 


"  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  "      89 

enough  and  kindly  enough  for  John  Keats  to 
have  room  to  write  his  unsung  songs  under 
celestial  conditions  without  the  limitations  of 
this  life?  Whether  or  not  all  of  us  agree  on 
this,  the  fact  remains  that  our  Father  rewards 
us  not  as  the  world  does,  according  to  our  ac 
tual  productions,  but  as  we  have  dreamed  and 
hoped  and  aspired,  as  well  as  actually  accom 
plished.  And  it  is  our  belief  that  no  tall  dream 
falls  to  the  ground ;  no  splendid  reach  of  the  soul 
comes  back  to  us  flotsam  and  jetsam;  no  beau 
tiful  aspiration  loses  itself  in  the  mists  and  the 
fogs  of  an  unrewarding  world.  All  that  we 
would  do  is  recorded  in  the  city  not  made  with 
hands,  as  well  as  all  we  do.  Every  high  thought, 
every  beautiful  motive,  every  handsome  inten 
tion,  all  are  marked  by  the  Watcher  of  men. 

"  All  we  have  willed  or  hoped  or  dreamed  of  good 

shall  exist; 
Not  its  semblance,  but  itself;  no  beauty,  nor  good, 

nor  power 
Whose  voice  has  gone  forth,  but  each  survives  for 

the  melodist 

When  eternity  affirms  the  conception  of  our  hour. 
The  high  that  proved  too  high,  the  heroic  for 

earth  too  hard, 
The  passion  that  left  the  ground  to  lose  itself  in 

the  sky, 


90     "  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  " 

Are  music  sent  up  to  God  by  the  lover  and  the 

bard; 
Enough  that  he  heard  it  once;  we  shall  hear  it  by 

and  by." 


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